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She's in a mess - dissolved company NHS contractor

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    She's in a mess - dissolved company NHS contractor

    Posting on behalf of a friend as she is financially clueless and doesn't know where to start.

    I'll try not to ramble, I know the general advice and sensible option is to get an accountant but at this moment in time it is not an option due to a large amount of personal debt.

    I have a friend who having gone through a long period of depression has accrued a lot of personal debt, lets say around 40k. Plus a mortgage.

    I have been helping her work it out, budgeting etc so she can live.
    Just as we get back on track I notice that her "payslip" isn't a payslip, it's an invoice addressed to a limited company in her name. I log on to companies house to check the status (I work for an IT recruitment company in compliance so am familiar with how contracting works) and it is dissolved.

    She had no idea that she was being paid gross. She assumed the agency was paying her tax etc.

    Essentially she is a nurse who has been working agency on and off since December 2015. The ltd company has an accountants address in Bradford and is marked as dissolved as of October 2017. When she signed up for her agency she thinks they would arrange for a ltd company to be set up - she then doesn't think she ever heard anything else. Her gross pay is around £900 a week. However during this current tax year she has also been employed.

    Any advice on the first steps? I've suggested she ask for a record of all payments made from the agency since 2015 so we can work out what her total gross pay has been, plus she needs to dig out all p60s etc from actual employment.

    She also should contact the "accountant" but what should she ask

    Should she contact companies house to get the dissolved company reinstated (I know there is a charge)

    I cannot find a website for the accountant and there is a review on yell.com slating them.

    Unfortunately seeking financial advise at the moment is out of the question due to there being absolutely no money. she has overstretched herself with multiple phone contracts, cars you name it.

    she can't go bankrupt as it will show on her disclosure and stop her from getting agency jobs with the NHS. Additionally she is totally financially clueless (I'm not) so the whole thing is hard for her to grasp.

    should she start using an umbrella company from now?

    Any advice is appreciated

    #2
    Start using a brolly. Start saving money. Figure out the debts. Start paying them off. I'd also look into the question of bankruptcy. The NMC doesn't care, unless fraud was involved.

    How was the company dissolved if it had outstanding debts to HMRC?
    Down with racism. Long live miscegenation!

    Comment


      #3
      She may well have had tax deducted since April 2017 - for public sector contracts caught by IR35, the payer has to deduct tax and NI.

      If her company is dissolved, where are the invoices paid to?

      If she has no interest in managing her company's finances, she should go via a brolly, or agency payroll if that's an option.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by NotAllThere View Post
        Start using a brolly. Start saving money. Figure out the debts. Start paying them off. I'd also look into the question of bankruptcy. The NMC doesn't care, unless fraud was involved.

        How was the company dissolved if it had outstanding debts to HMRC?
        I thought as much, umbrella company it is!

        How would HMRC know that there were outstanding debts though. No ones been managing it, she has been paid gross into a personal account. The only thing I could see being reported would be by a quarterly intermediaries report (where the agency reports all payments plus name date of birth NI)

        I’m not hopeful about getting a response from the accountant

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by villamaria View Post
          I’m not hopeful about getting a response from the accountant
          Where are you based? Nowhere near this accountants?

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by barrydidit View Post
            Where are you based? Nowhere near this accountants?
            About 20 to 30 miles away. She's going to give them a call today, just need an idea of what she should be asking (other than what happened!)

            Comment


              #7
              I've worked out the total money that has been paid gross is £23,466.43

              Comment


                #8
                There are enough things going on here that this is who she probably needs to see: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

                Let's be clear, though. This kind of a mess did not happen overnight. Being clueless does not give an excuse for racking up £40K in debt.

                Yes, she probably needs to go brolly. Yes, she needs a lot of advice from people who know what they are doing. But she also needs to make adult decisions, stop spending money she doesn't have, pay attention to important papers that are given and posted to her, and get a grip on life generally.

                I know what depression can do to people but the problem is, you have to try to pick up the pieces of your life afterwards. The more you give into that depression, the harder that is. It's easy to say "I'm depressed" and curl up in the fetal position (mentally/emotionally) but your life just gets worse and worse if you do.

                So she actually needs to take responsibility, even if depressed, for getting help and processing things that need processed. Usually that helps the depression, too, because of the satisfaction that "I've sorted THAT, anyway."

                And you need to accept that you can provide some friendly help and guidance but nothing is going to change unless she will change.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by villamaria View Post
                  I've worked out the total money that has been paid gross is £23,466.43
                  So any tax liability may be manageable on some sort of agreed debt payback when HMRC catch up with it. i.e. tax due on that gross amount shouldn't be that much prior to any pentalites, once personal tax allowance etc taken into account.

                  To manage this and her personal debt without going through bankruptcy there are debt management plans and voluntary schemes agreed with creditors to pay off as much as financially possible over a period of time.

                  Start with the citizens advice which is free:


                  https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/
                  Maybe tomorrow, I'll want to settle down. Until tomorrow, I'll just keep moving on.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by WordIsBond View Post
                    There are enough things going on here that this is who she probably needs to see: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

                    Let's be clear, though. This kind of a mess did not happen overnight. Being clueless does not give an excuse for racking up £40K in debt.

                    Yes, she probably needs to go brolly. Yes, she needs a lot of advice from people who know what they are doing. But she also needs to make adult decisions, stop spending money she doesn't have, pay attention to important papers that are given and posted to her, and get a grip on life generally.

                    I know what depression can do to people but the problem is, you have to try to pick up the pieces of your life afterwards. The more you give into that depression, the harder that is. It's easy to say "I'm depressed" and curl up in the fetal position (mentally/emotionally) but your life just gets worse and worse if you do.

                    So she actually needs to take responsibility, even if depressed, for getting help and processing things that need processed. Usually that helps the depression, too, because of the satisfaction that "I've sorted THAT, anyway."

                    And you need to accept that you can provide some friendly help and guidance but nothing is going to change unless she will change.
                    I totally agree she needs to take responsibility, I'm just trying to give her the barebones to get started

                    Comment

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