Paperwork and Deadlines

I don't recall commenting on completing the dreaded tax return for a few years. I note, however, that when I did so in 2015, I was buoyed by the possibility that age might bring a simplification of tax affairs. Well after spending all day filling in the online form, I am convinced that whilst my financial situation may have become simpler, the tax system and information required has surely become more complicated? Either that or the administrative burden of collating the detail required to answer the questions posed is so awful that I just blot it out for 12 months, let selective amnesia intervene and then allow myself to be overcome by shock and frustration when I sit down to insert the details every January.

In a desperate attempt at escapism, I did do an internet search on excuses to put forward to avoid filing. Sadly it looks as though HMRC is stony-hearted on this score and such creative explanations as others have offered, ranging from "the dog ate it"(which may work with homework but hardly an online submission) to an unexpected pregnancy (lasting 9 months presumably), being unable to get an internet connection (you can post it but must submit by 31 October) or "travelling the world" and "falling in with the wrong crowd," clearly fall on deaf ears.

I suppose the advantage of procrastination and leaving one's tax submission until shortly before the 31st January deadline is that you can guarantee there will always be one or two days of dreadful weather that probably serve no better purpose (so long as you avoid dogs, pregnancies, poor connections and travel) than for getting one's tax affairs in order. I also comforted myself with the discovery that I'm in good company because Albert Einstein himself is on record as saying, "The hardest thing in the world to understand is income tax." Of course, I'm not sure if he was referring to the principle of payment or the calculation, but am convinced he'd have expressed the same opinion if he'd experienced my tussle today.

I'm hoping future years' returns will be easier and that any easing in complexity of forms or finances is not offset by a decline in mental alacrity. Otherwise I can't imagine how I'll cope sitting in front of a computer in my nineties, wondering where I misfiled all the necessary paperwork that I need in order to answer the questions posed. Perhaps by then some kind Tax Officer will have taken pity on me and issued an exemption from a need to file; I can but hope.

In the meantime of course, I can draw solace from that celebrated of all quotes about tax from Benjamin Franklin: "In this world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes."

The lesser of two evils: so long as I'm filling in a tax return personally, I'm definitely alive and kicking.