The Hon. Eddie Teare MHK,
Treasury Minister,
Government Office,
Douglas.
Dear Eddie,
Happy New Year. It should be happy for you, all right.
Early January is when the likes of me, the self-employed, pay our annual income tax. You’re going to be rolling in it which should make a nice change for you in these straitened times. Spend it wisely.
There is, however, something I would like to draw to your attention. As long ago as June last year your people in the income tax division of the Treasury sent me formal notice that I would have to meet my tax liability by January 6th 2013 at the latest or be charged interest.
This looked to be in order at first sight. January 6th is always the deadline. But it would appear that your Treasury officials, who should be good with numbers, did not appear to realise six months ago that January 6th, yesterday, was going to be a Sunday and their offices would be closed and none of us could pay up then, however willing.
This set me to wondering, if the door was closed when I turned up with my cheque and nobody was there to receive it, I could take it away and put it back in the bank and I would be allowed to hang on to it.
After all there is no rule against me paying on the last day set out in the official notice from the income tax division and I would have tried to do my duty as required but had been rebuffed.
Of course, I could have left it to the Monday, today. But that would have left me liable to pay interest.
This might not come to too much. But I’ve already got enough to stump up. It’s not my fault that your people didn’t realise that on this particular January 6th they were going to be having a day off.
In the circumstances I must tell you that I consulted my accountant on this matter. He is a friend of long standing. But whenever I call upon him in his professional capacity he tends to look wary. He knows me not only for my innumeracy but also my blithe ignorance of the rigours of early 21st Century fiscal responsibility.
‘What is it this time?’ he demanded. I told him.
He leaned back in his chair and studied the ceiling for nearly a minute before saying: ‘My advice to you is get it paid straight away. What you have is a wholly fallacious argument and they don’t go for sophistry of this kind at the Treasury. Good morning.’
I paid up last Friday, January 4th. It was two days in advance of deadline because Saturday was Treasury closing day as well.
Does this mean, Eddie old son, that I can charge you two days’ interest for early payment?
Let me know at your earliest convenience.
• WHAT follows goes back quite a few years but it has only just been reported to me by Peter Tucker and these things do not deteriorate with age.
The old Tynwald Water Board had dug up the length of Sulby Glen to lay a pipe down to a newly built water filtration plant and a spokesman told Manx Radio that the road would re-open as soon as “they had got all the bugs out of the system.”
• I HAVE been told of a women’s fashion shop in Paris with a notice saying: “Dresses for street walking.”And for taking off I suppose.
• THIS week’s Manx crossword clue comes again from Richard Hetherington. It was in the Daily Mail as follows: Man, for example, follows a gangway (5). AISLE