Not paid HMRC or done any paperwork.. how screwed am I?

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Am I being stupid for thinking the mess is not that big? Either call it all a directors loan or salary payments (which will attract tax + NI) and do all the missing end of year stuff and VAT paperwork then pay the fines / what is owed?

I've taken 16k out without paperwork and have around 32k in the account. Surely that will cover me and I'll still get a good amount of that 32k to take home?

Some creative accounting might help to explain some of your withdrawals but a director's loan over £10k means BIK issues. You'll have to clear the loan account by declaring a legal dividend which can only be done with enough net profit.

I'd say your most pressing issue is to sort out your VAT liability, followed by ensuring all of your paperwork is correct. Then you can get your accounts sorted out to work out how much profit you have left after covering all of your potential fines and liabilities and then using this to declare a dividend to clear the director's loan account.

Finally you'll need to get the company wound up.

You need to find a good contractor accountant and ask them to help you fix this, step by step.

[tractor]

...

Some creative accounting might help to explain some of your withdrawals but a director's loan over £10k means BIK issues. You'll have to clear the loan account by declaring a legal dividend which can only be done with enough net profit.

I'd say your most pressing issue is to sort out your VAT liability, followed by ensuring all of your paperwork is correct. Then you can get your accounts sorted out to work out how much profit you have left after covering all of your potential fines and liabilities and then using this to declare a dividend to clear the director's loan account.

Finally you'll need to get the company wound up.

You need to find a good contractor accountant and ask them to help you fix this, step by step.

Exactly this and I have said it before in this thread, do not ignore the late filing at Companies House ESPECIALLY if you have 32k in the co accts. If they strike you off before you get this sorted, you will lose it all and you will still owe the corporation tax, VAT and PAYE.

[TheFaQQer]

Some creative accounting might help to explain some of your withdrawals but a director's loan over £10k means BIK issues. You'll have to clear the loan account by declaring a legal dividend which can only be done with enough net profit.

The "loan" was taken out before December last year, I presume (that's when the OP stopped having clients) so it would be £5k.

[northernladuk]

I presume if we are talking about 2013 here he isn't in much danger of HMRC come to the conclusion he has been either committing tax evasion or even fraud?

Same question for being struck off under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986. At what point does he need to start worrying about this?

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

The "loan" was taken out before December last year, I presume (that's when the OP stopped having clients) so it would be £5k.

Good point!

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

I presume if we are talking about 2013 here he isn't in much danger of HMRC come to the conclusion he has been either committing tax evasion or even fraud?

Same question for being struck off under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986. At what point does he need to start worrying about this?

I'm not sure OP has to worry about anything like that if they get this sorted ASAP.

I'd be more worried about having not paid the VAT man!

[mreades]

Update

Hi all,

I've got an update on this for you.

An accountant contacted me via this forum and I ran him through everything. After getting all of my paperwork in order, he managed to file all of my accounts. I am now 100% up to date on everything I owe the tax man and have paid myself the remaining dividends.

I HIGHLY recommend my accountant. Not only did he fix all of my problems. He did so while I was living in another timezone and only had contact with me via email.

I won't post his details here without his permission but if anyone needs someone to dig them out of a hole (or generally do their accounts) then drop me a message.

Many thanks to those that helped.

edit: also, I was just weeks away from being struck off by companies house, goes to show, it never is too late to seek help...

[mudskipper]

Glad it all got sorted. Hope you bought him a bottle of expensive whisky!