Ho ho no! This Santa SO found himself on the ‘naughty list’ this week.
According to Reuters, it was as part of a seasonal check on Advent and Christmas related traders that this unlucky Hungarian Santa found himself in big trouble with the tax man after inspectors posing as parents busted him for failing to invoice and declare his “gift-giving business.”
The Santa, who told his sad story to a local TV channel yesterday, explained how he had been invited to a Budapest apartment by parents who, as per local tradition, told him beforehand how the children behaved during the year.
After doing his expected singing, handing over presents, and smiling for holidays photographs, Santa, who as per tradition visits children in Hungary on December 6, got a bit of a shock however while waiting for his cash payment in the lobby.
Called back into the apartment the “parents” flashed him their tax inspector identity cards and informed him he would be fined for not producing an invoice. Whoops.
“I only do this once a year, so I didn’t think there would be any problem,” Santa told TV2, adding that he expects a fine of around 200,000 forints (€640).
To the news broadcasters, the Hungarian tax office informed that while they couldn’t comment on individual cases, they do indeed perform random checks on Advent and Christmas-related traders and service providers, without exception. Even being Santa doesn’t get you off the hook with the tax man, clearly.
