Loan Charge : my story

[passerby]

I’m probably going to get some quite negative feedback for this but I want to share my Loan charge story and I’d like to hear other people’s

My story starts as a young gullible professional who fell for the cold call sales patter of a tax consultancy

I was promised IR35 immunity through a HMRC approved scheme.

The benefit in terms of take home was negligible against running a LTD company but back in 2007 IR35 was looming large.

After 13 months of using the scheme, cracks appeared .. the Loans changed hands suspiciously and I started to dig. What I found scared me senseless . I left the scheme straight away even sacrificing an invoice in my haste !

I quickly contacted a tax specialist (gilberts) and started to raise awareness to warn others. I contacted HMRC and fully disclosed everything as I was close to a nervous breakdown.

They raised an enquiry and then closed it in a later year without taking ANY action. I was told that no tax was due !

So after suffering with extreme stress and anxiety I could get on with my life. Fast forward 10 years and I have a family and a wife, two beautiful young children and I’m about to lose it all for something that happened before they all graced my life.

I am now subject to the loan charge. With my family now to suffer for actions of my past . The troubles I thought were behind me have now jeopardise everything I love.

I barley sleep, I may lose my family, I will lose their family home and I can’t live with the guilt.

HMRC’s lack of action has led to 10 years of interest and lifetime of hurt. Im paying 60% tax (including interest) on gaining a 5% increase in take home compared to a limited company. It didn’t fund a lavish lifestyle it made paying the bills a little easier.

The retrospective nature of the loan charge makes a mockery of the legal system.
I’m Just a number on a balance sheet, a department target linked to someone’s bonus.

When I am made bankrupt and I have to give up my job in the finance sector, HMRC will lose more tax in three years from my earnings than they will recoup from me by implementing the loan charge and I’ll probably end up claiming it all back in benefits within 5 years.

Where is the logic ... where is the justice ... where is humanity ?

Sorry for your situation, you are not alone.

Can I ask why you think this will bankrupt you? you only used the scheme for 13 months 10 years ago, no open enquiry so no interest, so the liability if any should be manageable.