AGGGHHHH! (again)

vindalooloo

Can anyone advise please???

Money sitch dire generally (see previous long post) but I have one particularly pressing problem that I don't know what to do about. I have to pay £325 tax from last year's self employment by 31st Jan.

We are currently £602 overdrawn and the mortgage comes out Wednesday which is £397. (Leaving us minus £999 - Our O/D limit is £1000.)

Although our wages go in this week (£277 JOINT total - yes I know - we are on an absolute pittance!) which will bring the total back down to minus £722, the week after we have the loan payment of £102 to come out. Again, we'll be at minus £824!

This is of course presuming we don't EAT and put petrol in the car to go to work!

This of course still doesn't leave me three hundred to pay the bleeping tax. Our tiny WTC and child TC goes into another account, but that's also overdrawn already this month as we had to tax the car this week! GROAN.

Unfortunately we are consistantly overdrawn cos we just don't earn enough to get out of it. I have a new CC which is 0% but I cannot pay the tax on this - you have to pay by cheque or DEBIT card. I have asked them to send me some CC cheques but they've not arrived yet so I'm starting to panic. I also cannot buy groceries at Aldi, where I usually shop, (in order to leave funds in the bank for bills) with a CC - it has to be a debit card, so basically this new card's not much use to me ... if you see what I mean!

I have about £300 clear on another CC - the high interest one - and I'm wondering whether to use one of THESE CC cheques (which I do have) to transfer the £300 to the account to ensure I can pay the tax. I know it's gonna be dearer, but things are ***SO*** tight we just don't have ANYWHERE to go.

Can anyone advise please.

:-((

Morglin

Others will be more knowledgable about your other debts, but my son is an inspector at the Inland Revenue and they do accept payment by instalments, if you contact them and explain to them how tight your finances are.

He gets phone calls all the time, and works out an affordable payment plan with clients.

It will certainly be cheaper than using CC cheques.

They are generally reaosnable, provided you don't just ignore demands etc., - that's when penalties etc., occur.

I would contact them after New Year and explain your problems.

Good luck.

Lin

jas135

agree with above post . Inland revenue are approachable and for £325 they will DEFINITLY give you a bit of breathing space . Just say you can pay £40 a month or something . They will listen .
I owed them £47,000 ( through our business ) approx 4 yrs ago and offered them installments over 6 months . Bit of interest accrued , but i got through it .

bananakinz

Definately phone them and arrange a payment plan, they are a friendly bunch sometimes!

Morglin

As your joint salary seems so low, have you also checked that there are no extra benefits you may be entitled to (such as Council Tax rebate etc.,)?

http://www.entitledto.co.uk/

Lin

$17mma

"Unfortunately we are consistantly overdrawn cos we just don't earn enough to get out of it."

If the above is the case then you should not be taking out another credit card and using it's cheques :eek: If you are always overdrawn then how will you pay it off along with your other credit dcard and loan?. It has been said on MSE time and time again never to use credit card cheques and never borrow more to get out of debt.

This new credit card is only of use to you if you are using it's 0% status to pay off the other credit card or the loan. If you are using it to pay off the loan then double check to see if you will incurr any penalties.

vindalooloo

Morglin wrote:

Others will be more knowledgable about your other debts, but my son is an inspector at the Inland Revenue and they do accept payment by instalments, if you contact them and explain to them how tight your finances are.

He gets phone calls all the time, and works out an affordable payment plan with clients.
Lin

Thanks for that - yes I think this is what I will have to do. Just hate making these type of calls. I already feel pathetic because of how little I made self employed last year .... when I finally gave up and went back to work.

vindalooloo

$17mma wrote:

"Unfortunately we are consistantly overdrawn cos we just don't earn enough to get out of it."

If the above is the case then you should not be taking out another credit card and using it's cheques :eek:

Yeah I know - but when you have so low wages coming in and are SO overdrawn you have literally no breathing space. (Last month we had to 'rob' our daughter's £50 savings to put intio our account for 4 days to ensure we didn't get bank charges when the mortgage came out. On pay day we put it back - this is how dire it is.)

vindalooloo

$17mma wrote:

"Unfortunately we are consistantly overdrawn cos we just don't earn enough to get out of it."

If you are always overdrawn then how will you pay it off along with your other credit dcard and loan?. It has been said on MSE time and time again never to use credit card cheques and never borrow more to get out of debt..

Mmm I know. But we have to put food on table you see. Tax credits paid for the car taxing this month. Car is ESSENTIAL for hubby to get to job 12 miles away. When there is *NO* spare cash it's very very difficult.

$17mma wrote:

This new credit card is only of use to you if you are using it's 0% status to pay off the other credit card or the loan.

The new CC has onlt £800 limit on it but FREE cheques until August. So realyl I can only make a slight dent in the larger card anyway.

Morglin

I wouldn't worry - to the Inland Revenue, what you owe is peanuts (although I know that it's not to the one that owes it!!);)

But, start with only offering a tiny amount per week - there's no point in paying more than you have to, and they will start from a small amount if they think you can't afford much.

My son has people who owe thousands paying £10 per week.

As long as you are willing to pay it, then they are generally quite happy with that.

Any problems, ask to speak to a manager.

Lin

vindalooloo

Morglin wrote:

As your joint salary seems so low, have you also checked that there are no extra benefits you may be entitled to (such as Council Tax rebate etc.,)?

http://www.entitledto.co.uk/

Lin

Definitely not entitled to Council tax rebate. You have to be on all sorts of benefits to get it even if on low wages.

We get about £20 a month Tax Credits (were paying back overpayments by them from when it first started - DONT ask!) We also get some Child Tax Credits, but again, this is usually swallowed up by Direct Debit payments out. (eg Car insurance, TV Licence, Water rates etc). It all went on car tax this month.