Bankruptsy help and advice

bleueyes

Hi to everyone,
My problem is i am in serious debt with HMRC for PAYE and VAT!! I have my own small buisness doing steelwork/gates/railings etc etc that i started in 2006 but due to not keeping on top of paperwork and working 80 hrs a week to keep cash flow going i always thought i'll do paperwork next week!!!!next week never comes as just as busy the following week trying to make ends meet and always thought i can't do this if i'm at home doing paperwork??!!How wrong was i?! After digging a big hole for myself i am now in for about £60,000 to HMRC and about £15,000 to credit cards etc etc. I have not lived a lavish life style in any way and struggle with money due to not keeping up with invoices/paperwork etc etc. Anyway having a dilemma now as to what to do? IVA or Bankruptsy? i have a mortgage on our home but it is a shared ownership property with our local authority and they own 72% of our property,we have an interest only mortgage for the other 28%, so there is no real equity in the property and i'm guessing it's safe in Bankruptsy? Secondly i have a few assetts/items of machinery that i have sold to a family member for their true worth in order to raise money! ie, i produced an invoice and deposited money into my bank account from my brother from the sale of the items,again these items were sold for their true value and not undervalued. I have a few other bits and bobs like welders etc etc that i need to carry on doing what i'm doing(Tools of the trade) and without these i can not continue to earn a living?!value is probably £3000 in all items, i want to carry on trading afterwards but worry about bankruptsy taking these things away i need to continue earning?! I so just wished i had done it right to start with and want to do that now but can not do this until this situation is 1st addressed!!! any help or advise on this would be extremely appreciated as just worry all the time now and not sleeping properly either and is affecting my health as well!! any one in the same or similar situation then love to hear from you?! unfortunately i shut the gate long after the horse bolted but just want to do it properly now instead of all this?!!!
Thanks for anyone taking the time to read this.

debtinfo

hi bleueyes

if you have sold the items for their true value then there is no problem. You are allowed to keep tools of trade within reason, what sort of items do you have, would they fit in a van or are they fixed items. where do you do your work do you have a seperate premisis.

You say you want to keep trading and legally there is no problem with that but their are some points to note. You would have to keep usig the same name. You cannot get credit of more than £500 without disclosing your bankruptcy status and that includes deposits forwork.

Finally have a think about how you are running your business, yousay you have been working very long hours, so much that you did not have time to do paperwork but yet you have ended up with large tax debts, so are you really going to make a proper income out of this business or are you just going to continue to create debt, what would be different this time round?