I have a Tax Debt , Help

tigtig

Hi

Well when you think everything is starting to sort it self out then bang another little problem comes speeding down the road to pants town!!!

Let me explain my story ........

In my last job I had a company car, great. but when I filled in my self assessment for my tax I did it wrong, (Yes I'm stupid) . Now I owe the Tax man £1386.

So I thought to myself right sort this out, I have written up my budget sheets for income and outgoings for the next 7 months and sent it all to the inland revenue. In my letter to them I asked if I could pay £175 a month starting on the 23rd Jan 2006, this is when my salary goes up and I have the disposable cash. I also said i would ideally like to £250 a month and probably will but didn't want to commit to that and find i could'nt stick to it

Has anyone had any experience with the inland revenue?

Have I done the right thing sending all that stuff of to them.

And can anyone give me any advice on what to do if they don't except my offer..

Thanks

Northernbird_2

Sorry for hi-jacking the thread, but I'm interested in this as well. My OH has a tax bill to pay, and we wrote to them asking if he could make payments. They've asked for details of income & expenditure to see what he can afford to pay. Should hear news today.

They can be pretty agressive I think, apparently they asked OH what my income was (he didn't tell them), so if anyone knows what they can/can't do, I would really like to know too.

Once again, sorry for hi-jacking the thread. Hope you don't mind!

tigtig

No problems with hi-jacking the thread.

meltus

i had problems paying the IR a few years back.

To be honest they were pretty good about it first thing I had made contact with them, although they make it very clear that it is a special concession and you would have to provide evidence that you wouldn't be able to get the money from any other source. This includes outrageously expensive loans, family etc etc. Then it would have to be paid back as soon as is possible.

The problem with the IR in general is they will start recovery proceedings very quickly if they believe you owe them money.

I imagine it all depends on the amount of money that you owe and your personal circumstances.

That said, they will more likely just charge you £100 for being late with your payments, a 5% surcharge and 8% interest until you have paid them the money unless you get very late with your payments then they will start getting very unpleasant.

To answer your question, you have done the right thing in contacting them as you will get a definitive answer.

Apple_2

My O/H owed 17.5k in tax/NIC. Plus he hadn't filed tax returns for 3 years so his case was more deliberate/reckless. When first contacted they were off hand and distant. The tax returns were filed. We made two payments of £ 100 p.m. to show willing. I actually wrote to them outlining his circumstances and explained his behaviour ( changed job, divorce, heavy debts ). I telephoned the Collector and discussed what his repayment plan could be. He simply said 'put that in writing' which I did. We began making the payments as per the plan without their agreement. He was then sent an Income & Expenditure form to fill in, which I assumed was the Collector getting his paperwork in place. After they received that they wrote saying the payment proposal was acceptable ( they changed it slightly ) with payments due by dates , exceptional circumstances, one-off etc etc . My interpretation was : now they were in the loop, O/H was playing ball, installments were being promptly paid as agreed. I wouldn't say they bent over backwards to help BUT it was O/H's fault and he was fixing it. I assume if he couldn't make the payments, their reaction would have been different - the I.R. don't mess around ie distraint, bankrupcy. I also assume the amounts owed play a factor. We also got 2 surcharges cancelled ( £ 900ish ). They didn't have to, but I asked, and once arrears were cleared, they cancelled them. This was goodwill on their part and was much appreciated.

So yes, keep them in the picture, send in your I&E, installment plans are acceptable, but the IR are tough nuts who won't be messed about.

Best of Luck

jobbingmusician

Just a note (as you haven't referred to it before) to tell you my understanding of how IR would recover the debt if they DON'T accept your proposal.

I have a debt (allegedly) of about £460 which is apparently due to a past employer taxing me wrongly (grrrrrr! :mad: It's not as if my tax is complicated, they were simply my only employer on PAYE, plus I did a bit of mystery shopping - tiny money - which was taxed at source. So HOW could they get it wrong? But I'm just trying to be positive and look on it as an interest-free loan of the money - all spare money goes into my flexible mortgage anyway )

The IR have written to me saying that they are going to recover this by adjusting my tax code for next year. Apparently they do this for debts under £10k. This seems fairly painless to me - only £40 a month, which I won't really notice.

So just to let you know that the 'worst option' probably isn't all that bad - they don't seem to be about to descend and ask you to find large wodges of cash......

tigtig

Just had a phone call from the IR they have accepted my offer of £175 a month starting at the End of Jan. Tip top, get in there!!!!

Marsh_Samphire

Re: jobbing musician's post
I owed IR for the same reason and am also paying it back by having my tax code adjusted. IR initially wrote to say they would take it back over one year but I phoned and told them I couldn't afford it, so they immediately agreed to do it over two years, they didn't make a fuss or ask for any income/expenditure details.

Spendalot_2

Tig Tig

In your situation, they might agree to collect it via your tax code i.e from your wages each month.
My professional experiance of them is that if you speak to them they are great, bury your head in the sand and it wont be long until they bankrupt you!

Spendalot_2

Jobbingmusician,

My understanding it that if its less than 2k, it can be collected via your tax code. In normal circumstances, this also relies on tax returns being filed on time.