A man was astonished when he received a tax bill for £14 TRILLION – more than the net worth of the UK economy.
Stunned Giles Hembrough, 42, discovered the eye-watering mistake when he opened an ominous brown envelope from HMRC after returning from the pub last weekend.
The whopping 16 digit sum is a trillion pounds higher than the net worth of America – the world’s largest economy – and way more than the UK’s estimated £8.1 trillion.
The number in longhand is: fourteen trillion, three hundred and one billion, three hundred and sixty nine million, eight hundred and sixty four thousand, four hundred and eighty nine pounds and three pence.
Railway signal tester Giles calculated it would take him 369 million years to pay off the tax if he gave the Government ALL of his salary each month.
Giles, from Bristol, said: “I have had lots of tax errors recently, so I thought it was just an update.
“When I noticed the figure at the bottom I had to do a double take. I was incredibly surprised, of course, it was such a big number. I knew right away that it was a mistake.
“If it was £100,000 or even £10,000 I might have been a bit concerned that I did owe it for some reason, but the figure was so large that I knew it wasn’t right.
“I gave HMRC a ring and said to the woman that I thought my code was wrong.
“When she opened my file she said ‘Oh that is a big amount, it looks like someone has fallen asleep on the keyboard!'”
Mr Hembrough has recently changed his tax code but was unprepared for the whopping 16 digit sum.
The letter from HMRC said: “Although we are changing your tax code you may still not pay enough tax by 5 April 2017.
“We think the amount you owe HMRC is £14,301,369,864,489.03.
“We will let you know if this amount is right when we look at your tax return for the year.”
If Giles had that kind of money to spend he could buy 46 billion iPhones, 93 million Lamborghini sports cars, or pay for Hinkley Point C nuclear power station 777 times over.
Giles thinks the mistake happened because he has recently changed his tax code.
The letter from HMRC said: “Although we are changing your tax code you may still not pay enough tax by 5 April 2017.
“We think the amount you owe HMRC is £14,301,369,864,489.03.
“We will let you know if this amount is right when we look at your tax return for the year.”
Giles is hoping his tax code has returned to normal and is enjoying sharing the story with his friends and family.
“I have been showing it round,” he said
“Most people just find it really funny. I will be checking my pay check closely though next month.”
