So it wasn’t leaves on the line or the wrong type of weather but actually the recent flurry of snow around the country has, according to the Daily Telegraph, persuaded HMRC in their wisdom (!) to consider not charging late payment fines to tax filers if their submission was delayed due to adverse weather conditions.
Apparently some tax payers and their accountants were unable to get to work and so failed to submit their tax returns on time.
Apparently, a spokesman for HMRC said “if something has adversely affected them, we will consider it and this includes the bad weather.”
Of course, you will probably be required to provide evidence which could be an interesting challenge. How exactly do you show some time later that you were unable to do something because of the weather?
Only in this country, where the weather gets almost as much coverage as John Terry, could some bright spark consider it sufficient excuse for the late filing of taxes.
What next? Are we going to end up blaming global warming for the recession or could we see a heat wave being used as an excuse for the failure to submit P11ds on time.
I am all for reasonable excuses and I expect some latitude from HMRC in certain circumstances, but this really is a bit crazy particularly as people have 10 months to get everything together.
HG
Filed under: Government, Taxation
