A wildly optimistic businessperson's bid to claim birthday drinks at a Glasgow nightclub back on expenses is among the "absurd" submissions that have left tax workers aghast in the last year.
Read more: Edinburgh music hall conserves unique orchestral heritage
The rejected expenses claim came alongside recent excuses including one involving claims of an alien sighting holding up delivery of the documentation, and expenses included Vet fees for a rabbit.
Other hopeful expenses claims included one for a three-piece suite "for partner to sit on when doing my accounts", hotel room service for candles and Prosecco and £4.50 for sausage and chips meal expenses for 250 days.
Excuses for failure to provide documentation include that the person was travelling the country with a one-man play and that the form was spoiled by a coffee spill.
Read more: Edinburgh music hall conserves unique orchestral heritage
The claims were revealed as HM Revenue and Customs issue a reminder of the January 31 self assessment deadline.
Angela MacDonald, HMRC director general of customer services, said: “Each year we’re making it easier and more intuitive for our customers to complete their tax return, but each year we still come across some questionable excuses, whether that’s blaming a busy touring schedule or seeing aliens.
Read more: Edinburgh music hall conserves unique orchestral heritage
"However, help will always be provided for those who have a genuine excuse for not submitting their return on time.
“We also receive absurd expense claims from vet fees for a rabbit to room service at a hotel. It is unfair to make honest taxpayers pick up the bill for other people’s spurious claims, so HMRC will only accept sincere claims such as legitimate expenses for a job.
“If you think you might miss the deadline, get in touch with us now - the earlier we’re contacted, the more help we can offer.”
Aliens, vertigo, and a Glasgow nightclub included in this year’s #SelfAssessment expenses and excuses listhttps://t.co/xtW7EXbeVZ pic.twitter.com/W6Gw5a1GM1
— HM Revenue & Customs (@HMRCgovuk) January 17, 2018
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here