HMRC reveals 10 worst tax return excuses

HM Revenue & Customs has published what it considers to be the worst excuses for missing the January 31 tax return deadline.

A few are believable, others sound like a forgotten homework excuse, and some are outlandish, but all have been used in unsuccessful appeals against HMRC penalties for late filing.

Many of the excuses claim it was someone else’s fault – pets, girlfriends, and work colleagues – and one person even implicated US president Barack Obama.

Here’s the full list:

1. My pet dog ate my tax return… and all the reminders.

2. I was up a mountain in Wales, and couldn’t find a postbox or get an
internet signal.

3. I fell in with the wrong crowd.

4. I’ve been travelling the world, trying to escape from a foreign intelligence agency.

5. Barack Obama is in charge of my finances.

6. I’ve been busy looking after a flock of escaped parrots and some fox cubs.

7. A work colleague borrowed my tax return, to photocopy it, and didn’t give it back.

8. I live in a camper van in a supermarket car park.

9. My girlfriend’s pregnant.

10. I was in Australia.

HMRC director general of personal tax, Ruth Owen said: “People can have a genuine excuse for missing a tax deadline, but owning a pet with a taste for HMRC envelopes isn’t one of them.”