Working out your taxes can be a bit of a headache, that’s why accountants make so much money from it. And given the recent tax credits fiasco, it seems the tax man can have problems with individual filings as well.

So when you are dealing with the richest man in the world, you have to take extra special measures to get it right. That’s why the IRS in the US has had to splash out on a special computer to deal with the tax return from Microsoft supremo Bill Gates.

Bill told a conference in Lisbon that his fortune was just too big for the normal computers at the tax office to deal with. Unfortunately ­ and those that deal with the Rev here will sympathise ­ the IRS sometimes gets confused and forgets that the computer exists, sending Bill out incorrect bills. One thing he didn’t mention was which operating system this wonderful machine runs on.

For more on this and Bill's chum Larry Ellison click here.