Inland revenue Baliff

sproggi

Hi,

Can anyone tell me whether a baliff with a court warrent to collect monies owed to the Inland Revenue is legally allowed to force entry into a property without a police officer present?

A friend of mine had a baliff turn up this morning and thankfully did not let him in (she was on her own with her children at the time), he has told her that she has 5 days to get it sorted otherwise he will be back.
She was totally unaware that she owed this money as she has not worked for over 6 years, it turned out that her husband had been opening her letters from the IR and was hoping to get it sorted for her without her knowing but failed. What she thinks happened was that her husband started a company(which went under) with her as a director, she thinks that he may have put her down as receiving a wage even though she did not.

Sproggi

Conor_3

If he has an order for walk in posession, yes, he can just walk in and take stuff.

As regarding the director thing, if on paper she's been getting a wage she didn't know about, it could have other ramifications in repect to benefits and tax credit claims as she'll have put down nothing when, on paper, she's had an income.

sproggi

Hi Conor,

I did ask her if the baliff had got in to her house and she said no she managed to keep him on the doorstep, so as far as she is aware, he has not taken walk in possesion. I know that some of the laws have changed with regards to whether they can force entry or not, but not sure how it stands if it is the IR that is owed the money.

The only benefit that she claims is child benefit as they managed to sell their house and use some of the equity to live on until her OH got another job.

Unfortunatly she has just had to drag the money reigns off of her OH as he has been telling her that he has been paying the bills, only for her to find letters to the contrary.

I am going to print her off a sheet so that she can work out their SOA and give her the phone number for CCCS, I really can't think what else to do for her.

Sproggi

misspoppy

i think you'll find that HMRC are a priority creditor and have a lot of clout. it would probably be in her best interest to call the debt collection agency and come to an agreed payment plan. its probably best not to mention the husbands actions. I think the idea of going to CCCS is a very good one but the DCA should make an agreement with her.

opalfruits_2

A Collector Of Taxes can get a warrant to force entry, they are not "normal" bailiffs. Unfortunately, the HMRCis not a particularly forgiving creditor adn is one of the most frequent creditors to apply for a debtor's bankruptcy. The are a top priority creditor and your friend needs to make an agreement urgently.

Mozette

If she didn't receive the money, she needs to contact HMRC & get it sorted. If her husband received it instead, it is taxable on him, not her. She needs to find out how the debt arose and try and get to talk to the relevant person at HMRC (rather than the call centre)

sproggi

Thank you for the replies.

She has now phoned 2 tax offices (apparantly it is a separate one that deals with debts) and it turns out that her OH had filled in her tax form along with his own, signed them both (his signature, not hers) and then sent them off.
Tax office processed his and sent hers to an accountant that my friends OH used to use but had fallen out with (long story) to be signed by her, the accountant must have just binned the forms and left it at that.

The upshot is that tax office cannot call off baliff until they have received signed forms, so they are posting out today so she will hopefully receive them in the morning to be returned the same day, she has then got to hold her breath and hope form gets to them before baliff comes out again.

Sproggi

misspoppy

thats good but i think she should call the co the baliff is working for to explain that the debt is in dispute.

sproggi

I had thought about that, but when I asked her who the baliff was, which company he worked for, all she knew was that he worked for the court.

At least her OH was allowed to unpack his bags, with a very stern warning!

Sproggi

sarahluv

all hmrc distraint officers are inhouse.