#648seconds

Happy New Fiscal Year, taxpayers of the United Kingdom! I could add a lot of New Years to this project if I included all the various tax years by country and by type - personal, corporate, government. (I haven’t yet decided that I won’t… ) For today, 6th April, it is just the UK. Plenty of countries use 1st April - including the UK for its governmental fiscal year. There’s also Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Japan (government/corporate) New Zealand (personal/corporate only), Singapore, South Africa. The anomaly of 6th April is an interesting one, if you are interested in such things. Its history is in the switch in 1752 from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian that is still in use today. The big difference was that the Julian calendar counted a year as 365.25 days and the Gregorian calls it 365.2425 days. That 0.0075 of a day - or 648 seconds - was causing a slow drift away from dates lining up with seasons. To simplify a long story, this was most keening felt as the “Moveable Feast” of Easter was losing its connection to the Spring Equinox. The drift had gotten 11 days ahead (which is a lot of 0.0075s). In 1752, an Act of Parliament made 11 days - 3rd-13th September - not happen. And the tax year? 25th March used to be New Year’s Day. England had kept this date for way longer than most countries - including Scotland which switched to 1st January 150 years earlier. When the Gregorian switch was made, the New Year started on January 1st, but the tax years - and quarters - stayed put. Still with me? The final piece of the puzzle is that taxation law stated that the tax year began ‘from’ 25th March - and the legal definition of ‘from’ meant the day after - ie 26th March. So add eleven days and here we are, 6th April. And if that hasn’t made your day I don’t know what will. Happy New Year #FiscalYear #TaxYear #Tax #ILoveTax #648seconds #GregorianCalendar #JulianCalendar #HappyNewYear #TheYearOfYears Image: a brightly coloured pie chart and list describing the different types of UK taxes and how much each contributes to the whole pot. (Source: wikipedia) (at United Kingdom) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNV1sM-lB5S/?igshid=19itk6xo1ihuh

Happy New Fiscal Year, taxpayers of the United Kingdom! I could add a lot of New Years to this project if I included all the various tax years by country and by type - personal, corporate, government. (I haven’t yet decided that I won’t… ) For today, 6th April, it is just the UK. Plenty of countries use 1st April - including the UK for its governmental fiscal year. There’s also Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Japan (government/corporate) New Zealand (personal/corporate only), Singapore, South Africa. The anomaly of 6th April is an interesting one, if you are interested in such things. Its history is in the switch in 1752 from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian that is still in use today. The big difference was that the Julian calendar counted a year as 365.25 days and the Gregorian calls it 365.2425 days. That 0.0075 of a day - or 648 seconds - was causing a slow drift away from dates lining up with seasons. To simplify a long story, this was most keening felt as the “Moveable Feast” of Easter was losing its connection to the Spring Equinox. The drift had gotten 11 days ahead (which is a lot of 0.0075s). In 1752, an Act of Parliament made 11 days - 3rd-13th September - not happen. And the tax year? 25th March used to be New Year’s Day. England had kept this date for way longer than most countries - including Scotland which switched to 1st January 150 years earlier. When the Gregorian switch was made, the New Year started on January 1st, but the tax years - and quarters - stayed put. Still with me? The final piece of the puzzle is that taxation law stated that the tax year began ‘from’ 25th March - and the legal definition of ‘from’ meant the day after - ie 26th March. So add eleven days and here we are, 6th April. And if that hasn’t made your day I don’t know what will. Happy New Year #FiscalYear #TaxYear #Tax #ILoveTax #648seconds #GregorianCalendar #JulianCalendar #HappyNewYear #TheYearOfYears Image: a brightly coloured pie chart and list describing the different types of UK taxes and how much each contributes to the whole pot. (Source: wikipedia) (at United Kingdom) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNV1sM-lB5S/?igshid=19itk6xo1ihuh