Companies House has released its list of most bizarre excuses that people have tried to use for not filing their company accounts on time.
The rather unusual list of reasons companies gave for not filing their accounts is below, in no particular order:
- ‘Valentine’s Day interrupted me’
- Slugs had eaten the accounts
- A volcano erupted
- ‘My company was more successful than I thought that it would be, so I was too busy to file.’
- The records were eaten by a goat
- ‘The accounts were delivered to the betting shop next to Companies House’.
- The theft of documents by pirates
- ‘I found my wife in the bath with the accountant’ – our personal favourite!
Unsurprisingly, all the companies that used these excuses were given a late filing penalty and unsuccessfully appealed against it.
Nick Parker, senior enforcement manager at Companies House, said: ‘There will always be unforeseen events that mean a company is unable to file accounts on time. In exceptional circumstances, companies can request an extension to the filing deadline, however these requests must be received before the filing deadline.’
Our advice is – DON’T LEAVE IT TO THE LAST MINUTE. Give your accountant plenty of time to get your numbers and tax right for you. You have nine months after the year end to file so there rarely is a good excuse not to get in done on time and avoid the fines.