Not paid any Income tax for a while.

tiggerbodhi

Hi,
Hopefully a straight forward one; a Friend has been doing their tax returns year after year, all submitted on time, BUT has not paid any of the Tax Due, or payments on account for the year ahead (Self Employed)

They are complete head in sand at the moment, probably around the £30K mark owed for income tax and possibly VAT, the questions that worry thier family are:

Can he go to jail for this?

How will HMRC proceed with collection? believe they are at the writing nasty letters, debt collection phoning, assume court action won't be far off....

If HMRC deal with this by forcing bankrupcy, assume that is the end of the Tax Debt, or would it be better for him to BR himself before HMRC do it?

Thanks!

00ec25

read these from HMRC

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/sa/deadlines-penalties.htm?WT.ac=sa21_2013

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/managing/problems/penalties.htm

tiggerbodhi

Good information, but does not really help in this situation, the financial penalties are mounting up, what will HMRC do to force collection of this and ultimately can they/would they jail him for this?

molerat

He will not go to prison unless he is committing tax/vat fraud. If he is simply not paying what is agreed is owed then they will eventually take him to court and bankrupt him. Does he own any property ?

tiggerbodhi

Thanks, he does not own anything the OR might be interested in apart from the lorry he uses for work as a self employed lorry driver, the OR might take this but then he would not be able to work in his profession, so not sure if an OR will take this.

mania112

It wouldn't be in HMRC's best interest to force him into bankruptcy, but he will have accrued a high penalty.

Best thing is to call them ASAP