HM Revenue and Customs is an organisation not known for its sense of humour but, with the tax credits renewal date looming on July 31, it has released a list of excuses claimants have made for missing the deadline.
It hopes the publicity this engenders will remind those who need to make a claim.
“I didn’t need the money because I’d met a rich bloke, but he dumped me,” has to take pride of place.
Others are more mundane and understandable: My mum usually does this for me; my dog ate the form; I thought I’d already renewed; I was unable to get income details from my employers in time.
Excuses range from extreme: “The form was locked in the boot of my car, and then my car caught fire” to the believable: “My baby used the paperwork as a colouring book.”
Don’t they always?
Plus: “I booked the last two weeks of July for a holiday and forgot all about it” and “I’ve been in hospital but am feeling much better now.”
Which is nice.
Nick Lodge, Director General of Benefits and Credits, HMRC, said: “So far, over 203,000 claimants have renewed online. It’s a quick and easy way to do it.
“Renewing tax credits on time is important. People who don’t renew by the deadline can, and do, lose their payments.”
Last year, more than 650,000 failed to renew on time. Get it done.
