HM Revenue and Customs has spent more than £10,000 in the past five years sending flowers to taxpayers to apologise for its mistakes.
Details disclosed under a Freedom of Information request found the government department spend more than £3,000 on bouquets in a single year.
Its total spend on florists between from 2014 and the current tax year was £10,298, according to The Daily Telegraph.
HMRC said it uses flowers as a way to apologise to taxpayers in cases where serious mistakes have been made.
It added it had reduced its spend on bouquets down to just £860 in 2017.
“For some mistakes, a simple ‘sorry’ may not be enough and we think sending flowers can be a more personal gesture to put things right,” an HMRC spokesman said.
In the past, the taxman has reportedly sent flowers to a number of business owners and individuals deemed to have been poorly treated by the system.
A Stockport café owner received an apology bouquet after HMRC accidentally sent her a tax bill for close to £1bn, before later revising the statement down to £17,000.
Flowers were also sent to a pensioner who had been due an £800 tax rebate, but was instead posted a cheque for just £1.
