Lord Carter of Coles was in a chirpy mood when talking to TS about his recommendations for sprucing up HM Revenue & Customs’ online presence this past Budget day. When questioned on the moving forward of self assessment filing deadlines, he pointed out that online filing would be ‘incentivised’.

In other words, you had two extra months to file online compared to paper returns. He didn’t seem to fully appreciate that moving the dates forward in the first instance wouldn’t be construed as an ‘incentive’ to many, perhaps. Then again, maybe he did.

After pointing out that he had been delighted with the response by the profession and other stakeholders during the initial consultation, Lord Carter blurted out that he was packing his bags and heading off to Australia on Budget day for well-deserved hols.

For TS to even suggest that Lord Carter has slipped out of the country to avoid the hording masses of angry accountants would be inappropriate, but we’d be lying if we said the thought hadn’t entered our heads.