IR & hardship

panny12

Hi All

I have a question to ask, i owe 26k to the IR from a post office closure which i was managing/franchising. Over the last 5 years i have been paying this off each month in small payments, a couple hundred with reasonable interest, i still owe 22k and am approaching retirement age in a couple of years. The plan is to send another financial statement and have them reduce my monthly payments which i feel they will be fine with. As i have not missed any payments but these payments will be about £30 per month as that will be all i can afford. Now my question is if i have other debts but am mortgage free, is there a hardship policy that applies which will reduce this debt at all?
As have been told by a friend it is possible but sounds too good.
Any advice please?

Thanks Panny

antonic

What do you owe money for ? - is it VAT/PAYE/SA or a mixture of them all ?.

The fact that you have an existing arrangement (and have stuck to it) doesnt mean that they will automatically agree to a revised arrangement, all it means is that they havent enforced the debt because you have stuck to the arrangement.

The enforcement options available to HMRC are distaint (if in England/ Summary Warrant in Scotland), County Court Proceedings or bankruptcy against you as an individual or winding up action if a company.

Why do you think HMRC should write off the debt if you owe it ?.

panny12 wrote: »

Hi All

I have a question to ask, i owe 26k to the IR from a post office closure which i was managing/franchising. Over the last 5 years i have been paying this off each month in small payments, a couple hundred with reasonable interest, i still owe 22k and am approaching retirement age in a couple of years. The plan is to send another financial statement and have them reduce my monthly payments which i feel they will be fine with. As i have not missed any payments but these payments will be about £30 per month as that will be all i can afford. Now my question is if i have other debts but am mortgage free, is there a hardship policy that applies which will reduce this debt at all?
As have been told by a friend it is possible but sounds too good.
Any advice please?

Thanks Panny

antrobus

panny12 wrote: »

....

. Now my question is if i have other debts but am mortgage free, is there a hardship policy that applies which will reduce this debt at all?
...

Does the statement 'mortgage free' mean that you own a property? If so, then HMRC will take it.

xylophone

HMRC write off a debt when the debtor has assets.....
Is that a pig I see flying by?:D

John_Pierpoint

There you go not exactly a pig farm of them but an environmentally friendly UK family grouping - a sty or an ark full of pigs.

But being serious for a moment, you might find someone with experience of your situation, who can suggest some dodges on the
"Debt free wannabee" section of this forum.

Most of us tax slaves don't like going there, as we find ourselves getting into slanging matches with people who appear to have grossly irresponsible attitudes to borrowing for consumption, failing to prioritise their responsibilities but happy to blame their lenders.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/dmbmanual/dmbm667320.htm

Note it is harder for HMRC to make to charge that restricts your real estate, if it is jointly owned and the joint owner is not a party to the civil debt.

My mum had such a charge against "her" house for 35 years after my father died. Yet another confusion with HMRC to get it lifted and the house transferred into the personal names of my sister and me, before selling it.
(No point in paying for a couple of solicitors to muddle about with HMRC over events in a previous century).

So death and taxes will follow you to the grave in my opinion.

Bankruptcy is "living death" (but with amazingly fast resurrection in my opinion, as we are coming up to Easter) and HMRC know they are priority creditors.

http://www.bereavementadvice.org/probate-and-other-legal-procedures/insolventestates.php

panny12

Bit like opening a can of worms with this subject, not that negative a relationship between me and the IR i can safely say, they have actually been commendable, you just need to figure a way to find an earnest solution. I will research further into this hardship law/rule if one exists. thanks for the input all the same, great forum.