All sorts of trouble .... (Tax & VAT)

[cojak]

Oh, and don't forget to put some work in for your client - this isn't going to fall around your ears today and you NEED that contract until Christmas.

[DaveB]

I'm guessing not, but are you a PCG/IPSE member? If so get onto them pronto, they can put you in touch with relevent people.

Othwerwise, as others have said, try to stay calm. Nothing is going to happen immediately, or even this week most likely. You have time to get your documentation together, find someone to help and figure out exactly what your position is.

You've already contacted HMRC, which is good. At least there is a record of you telling them as soon as you realised there was an issue. With the VAT, they dont get the rubber hoses out unless you've activly tried to fiddle it. They will deal with cockups on a fair and manageable basis. From what you've said, thats what this is, a pretty big one to be fair, but a cock up none the less.

[psychocandy]

£80K possibly then. WOW....

Be interested to see why the Mrs did this. I must admit I'd find it hard to take unless she had a really good reason. But there we go.

But why didn't you check yourself as well? Surely you'd have had to sign your own SA?

My own brother did the same when self-employed but for him it was more like he couldn't be arsed and preferred to spend it all down the pub. And then when HMRC came calling he chucked the letters in the bin and played funny buggers with them.

In the end, the bill was a lot less than HMRC originally came up with and they let him pay it a few £100 a month for years. Personally I was hoping he'd go to prison for a week because the lazy arse still moaned about how unfair it was then that big bad HMRC were picking on him (even though he'd had 5 years paying zero tax and every night on the lash with his tax money and then they waived half of it).

So, not suggesting you're like him, but the point is, they were well aware of what had happened in brothers case but still waived a load of it and were flexible even though he refused to help. So I would imagine someone like you who holds their hands up and works with them would get some flexibility off them.

[cojak]

We aren't interested in trawling over the why at the moment PC, let the poor bloke absorb what's happened to him first.

[helpplease]

We aren't interested in trawling over the why at the moment PC, let the poor bloke absorb what's happened to him first.

Thanks !

I'm gonna head over the UK next day or so, hopefully can find an accountant to go talk to about getting help with this mess.

JSA are currently working on the p11d's for 09-10 and 10-11, I going to leave them to get those finalised and submitted as on the Tax bill they've put the late fees charge on hold for a month.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Hi I'm Lisa

First things first - don't panic!

The thing that surprises me the most is the VAT issue - that side of HMRC tend to be far more aggressive than their counterparts and late payments tend to attract mountains of correspondence let alone no payments at all. Do you know whether your VAT returns have been submitted for the period from 2012? If they have I would have expected aggressive chasing of monies owed to have started way before now and your accountant should have been aware from your books that no payments had been made. The same applies, in a lesser degree, to the SA - HMRC tend not to let things like that go and they chase for them well before they're actually due so you should certainly have seen some correspondence.

I would firstly speak to your existing accountant and get all documentation that they have on file from HMRC, all your accounts, VAT returns, PAYE records etc etc and then take the whole lot to a decent accountant - there are a number who post on here or get a personal recommendation. Then request that they liaise with HMRC - it may be that the problem's not as bad as you think it is but sticking your head in the sand and not getting a dialogue opened with HMRC won't help matters. If you do owe everything that you think you owe you will need to enter into some sort of arrangement with them to clear the debts.

Beyond that (and the reason that Cojak kindly mentioned me) I would suggest that you work with an umbrella company for a year or so or until you get your business affairs in order. You will be paid through PAYE and your take home pay will not be as high as it would be working outside IR35 through a PSC but you won't have to worry about holding money back for VAT, CT and SA and you won't have to worry about submitting returns to HMRC. Basically it will give you a bit of breathing space to sort yourself out and properly acquaint yourself with the responsibilities of being a Company Director.

Lastly - did you leave the finances of the company entirely in your wife's hands or did you check bank statements etc? Were you the only bank signatory or was your wife also? If you were the only signatory and you did check the bank statements did it not occur to you that there were no payments being made to HMRC over a 2 or 3 year period? I don't mean to be harsh but I wonder if you had your head in the sand a little bit too.

It's no fun falling foul of HMRC and I hope you manage to get everything sorted out

[administrator]

I'll get Admin to sort his PM rights out.

Sorted!

[helpplease]

Lastly - did you leave the finances of the company entirely in your wife's hands or did you check bank statements etc? Were you the only bank signatory or was your wife also? If you were the only signatory and you did check the bank statements did it not occur to you that there were no payments being made to HMRC over a 2 or 3 year period? I don't mean to be harsh but I wonder if you had your head in the sand a little bit too.

It's no fun falling foul of HMRC and I hope you manage to get everything sorted out

I had literally no idea, paid a 60k CT bill in February, so figured everything was been dealt with

[stek]

I had literally no idea, paid a 60k CT bill in February, so figured everything was been dealt with

60k for one year?

[BrilloPad]

The thing that surprises me the most is the VAT issue - that side of HMRC tend to be far more aggressive than their counterparts and late payments tend to attract mountains of correspondence let alone no payments at all.

I move to a house in September 2004. In August 2012 I got a letter relating to VAT owing by previous occupants from April 2004!

So sometimes they are very inefficient....