Investigaton

[BolshieBastard]

Reads to me like there's never been an accountant in situ and the OP has either neglected to do his returns or thought he'd do it himself to save a grand a year on accountancy bills!

[LucidDementia]

OP didn't mention an accountant.

#justsayin

[northernladuk]

OP didn't mention an accountant.

#justsayin

Did he not?

I'm so sick of working these hours that I do wonder if bankruptcy is an option. I'm good to carry on for another 2 years if I can pay it all off, but right now I just don't know where to turn. I've seen a couple of tax investigation specialists on google, I don't know if my accountant would be up to the task in the same way as them.

[pr1]

OP didn't mention an accountant.

#justsayin

#awkz

[LucidDementia]

D'oh.

He might be new.

[webberg]

I'd have to agree that the accountant, if around at the beginning, should have been more proactive.

At the moment it sounds like the OP is in a panic for no good reason. There is no enquiry per se, just a request for tax returns/further information on tax returns. Probably 70% of more of people here have those.

Any competent accountant should be able to deal with this. You don't need an enquiry specialist.

Accountants operating in this sector do seem to separate into those offering basic bookkeeping and administration, through those offering more services (tax, etc) at additional cost to those more "traditional" firms who can offer the full range.

As is always the case, you get what you pay for and if the numbers the OP is suggesting are roughly correct, paying between 1% and 5% of the likely bills to an accountant would be a wise investment.

(And no, this is not a pitch as I'm certain that others found here are better and more efficient that I would be in this situation).

[matzie]

Hi OP.

Maybe this doesn't need to be said, but just in case...

I know things look pretty terrible right now. I know that perhaps you can't see a way through, and the knowledge that your own mistakes have probably contributed to your situation must be pretty painful. I expect the fear and anxiety must feel crippling.

But life is a gift, and this situation will not last forever. Yes, you might end up losing your house and going through a lot of painful experiences before things get better. But, life is a gift.

Tomorrow the sun will come up and clouds will move across the sky. Babies will be born. Children will go to school. People will fall in love and grow old together. Out in the cosmos, over eons, stars will be formed... planets will coalesce from dust...

In the context of this 'pale blue dot' we live on... a problem with tax is not the end of the world.

I'm not saying you don't have to do some difficult stuff. You will need help and you will need to make some big changes.

For that matter, for all of us worrying about T&S or IR35v2 or whatever... that's not the end of the world either.

Life goes on, and life is a gift.

Enjoy it.

[WordIsBond]

I've been behind with VAT and corporation tax for years and have been trying to catch up, by working day and night and every weekend. This year I managed to catch up on 86k of vat and tax and am almost fully up to date.

If you can show HMRC that this is true, they should be very patient with you for the rest of it. You've obviously been working hard to clean up your mess, and they've been seeing money come in.

From now on, the money you'll be paying back has to come out of personal income. That means you absolutely need the best possible tax advice you can get. If you try to pay off £40K in a year you are going to be paying a lot of higher rate tax. You might want to work really, really hard to earn the money so you have the funds to pay it off, but you may not want to extract it all from the company all in one year.

[Danglekt]

It sounds like a right pickle!

Sorry to hear about it - I have to agree with the other comments regarding getting some professional help in both getting on an even keel but can I also suggest the more important long term stability/advice/guidance you seem to be lacking from your current accountant?

You dont want to get to the end of the next firefight to find you have stored up another problem for yourself.

[MrMarkyMark]

FTFY

can I also suggest the more important long term stability/advice/guidance you seem to be lacking from your current, incompetent, accountant?