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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Submitting tax returns is undoubtedly an extremely dull process and one that it is no surprise to find so many people are keen to avoid.<\/p>\n
As such, plenty of Britons are guilty of failing to enter their financial information on time – and with the January 31st deadline for this year's returns just around the corner, the government has decided to publish a guide to some of the most bizarre excuses given by those who have been late in previous years.<\/p>\n
It started by revealing a self-employed builder once got in touch with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to inform its tax department that his goldfish had died and that he would not be able to send off his end-of-year results in time.<\/p>\n
If you think that is bizarre, you should keep reading to find out about some of the even stranger reasons Britons have given, such as the Midlands-based farmer who put his lack of submission down to having a run-in with a cow.<\/p>\n
A woman from London said she simply could not concentrate on tax matters after seeing a volcanic eruption on the news, a hairdresser in Leicester declared she was given an incorrect deadline by her husband that she believed and a Coventry writer said he had been far too busy touring the country.<\/p>\n
Other excuses included cruising around the world on a yacht, blaming a wife for refusing to hand over post and being unable to go upstairs – where the tax return was – due to a dodgy back.<\/p>\n
Ruth Owen, HMRC's director general of personal tax, said: "There will always be unforeseen events that mean a taxpayer could not file their tax return on time. However, your pet goldfish passing away isn't one of them."<\/p>\n
She added everyone must now file their tax return online by January 31st and there is "no excuse not to".<\/p>\n
And if you really cannot manage it, blaming it on a pet or relative is probably not the best idea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The government has revealed some of the excuses used by people who have failed to submit their tax returns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n