HMRC and BANKRUPTCY

Hi, one of our board members has been made BR by HMRC. I think it was Rog2. I'll send him a PM and ask him to look at your thread.

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

Hi, one of our board members has been made BR by HMRC. I think it was Rog2. I'll send him a PM and ask him to look at your thread.

It was indeed me, tf. :rolleyes:

It is difficult to put a 'timescale' on the way that HMRC will handle their threats of bankruptcy - in fact it is difficult to put a timescale on anything that the dreaded HMRC do, as they operate very much as a 'law to themselves'. :mad: :mad:

However, my experience is that they WILL, in the first instance, go to the County Courts in order to obtain a CCJ. Once they have obtained the CCJ, they usually send a 'collector' around, to try to 'collect' the money. This is not your usual 'doorstep collector' or dca 'thug' - in my case, he actually agreed that I did 'not have the trappings of someone who owed HMRC in excess of £60k' and advised that I contact the local HMRC Collections Office for help/advice, which I did. Unfortunatelytheir 'help/advice' consisted of little more than a 'clerk' telling me how to fill out an income/expenditure form and a very beligerent 'gentleman?' shouting at me that I must submit the correct accounts within seven days. (the reason that HMRC had 'assessed' my tax bill was that they had 'rejected' my accounts). I was, unfortunately, unable to comply with this 'request'.
It was approximately six weeks after the CCJ, that I was served with a 'Statutory Demand', and a further six weeks before I was served with my 'petition' to appear at the High Court.
All in all, the 'timescale' from their first 'threat' of Court Action to the actual serving of the 'banruptcy petition' was about six months. However, the actual dispute had been going on for almost two years.
Sorry if this does not help you much, wannabe, but HMRC do appear to be quite inconsistent in their handling of such cases - I just think it depends on the person you are dealing with, or trying to deal with, at HMRC.
One thing for certain, though, HMRC are by far, the largest petitioner of 'Creditor Petitioned Bankruptcies' in the UK, and if you can not pay what they demand, whether justified or otherwise, they will resort to petitioning for your bankruptcy in the end, often having inflated the original 'debt' out of all proportion by the imposition of interest and penalties.
If you, or anybody else who is being threatened with bankruptcy by HMRC, really want my advice, it would be this; Do not wait for HMRC to petition you for your bankruptcy, as they still have a lot of say as to how your affairs in bankruptcy are handled - for example, as your major 'creditor' they would be given the right to appoint a 'trustee' of their choosing, and can override the wishes of your other creditors. If there is any way that you can afford to, I would most strongly reccomend that you find the cash and petition for your own bankruptcy - the end result is the same, but you will be more in command of the situation.
Good Luck.