From the date of this letter (19th April) you must submit your accounts within 14 days, What is the last day?

that I could have submitted the accounts?





I don't know if I should add this to business or maths :s ... business it is.|||The last day should be May 3, that would be 14 days from April 19th.|||look at a calendar. Start with April 20th as day one. Count to 14. there you go.|||May 9th. I'm assuming they meant BUSINESS days. Weekends and holidays don't count.|||You must have it sent by 30th of April. The actual last day would be 3rd of May, but to be on the safe side, you should sent it in early. If you sent it on 2nd or 3rd of May, when they receive it, it could be too late.|||Appeal the fine 鈥?so long as you have the letter and the correct date on it is in fact April 19th.





Add 14 to the date of the letter: April 19 + 14 = April 33. April has only 30 days so that leaves you May 3. (And it is from the date of the letter, not from the day before as would be the wording if you had to count the day of the letter's dating as Day 1 of the count.)





Usually, when multiples of 7 are specified, it means calendar days not "business days" which do not count weekends and legal holidays. This is not a factor here though as you chose May 3rd, not an even later date. Additionally, since you presented in person, there is no consideration about mailing times. But if there had been, the practice in the US is for the mail system's postmark date to be the legal date of submission and government entities are careful to get that right. You sound like you are in the UK, well, yes, given the fine's currency, so perhaps that is no help in finding the accepted practice there.





But the core of the matter is that May 3rd is absolutely the 14th day after April 19th and no question or funny quibble about it. Hopefully you saved the letter this long and were correct in picking the correct date to begin counting to 14. This almost sounds like the quibble of "A through K" vs. "A through K, inclusive."





Even if it is though, I firmly believe any entity issuing such commands and interpreting them in this odd manner would either be used to this interpretation (since it is so obviously correct!) OR be doing it to raise revenue with those fines and have a reputation for such behavior that will stand you in good stead after they deny your appeal of the fine and you escalate to the next higher level.





However, there is a lesson to be learned here and that is this: no matter what, always call upon receiving such letters and have someone there, whose name or identifier you obtain first in the conversation, formally define the actual due date, not just repeat the letter's formula. Ask for a supervisor if necessary. 拢100 is worth a bit of bother...





And finally, press your MP for a change to the government's methodology here: in the US, no government entity would ever bother with such a hazardous formula. They always clearly specify a date. Even if the underlying law specifies a formula, the entity will define the actual due date in any mailing and on its website. It will also indicate, clearly, if it uses the postmark date as the formal submission date. (The submissions that require payments to be enclosed are... spotty... about this. Usual practice is to require it arrive by the due date about 50% of the time.)





Good luck with the appeal. You should win if there is justice as you clearly did not untoward or unreasonable in your calculation of the due date.