am I liable for husband's hmrc debt?

turquoiseshed

Hoping someone can help. My husband went self employed after losing his job a few years ago.
I have been paying the household bills, mortgage etc for a long time now. Over the last 2 years he has earned practically zero, and I have been having to pay his car loan, travel expenses, training courses etc out of my salary, which I was happy to do as it looked like things were on the up.

He now owes over £3000 to HMRC, for income earned 2010-11 I think, which he has being paying bits off , but he is now saying that the HMRC need an 'income and expenditure ' summary, for household income, to avoid the debt collectors coming in. I told him he should have kept this money back when he earned it, but he said he did for a while but then as he was earning nothing, started to use this for expenses, so that when it came to the bill being due, he couldn't pay. I am now worried that this means I am liable to pay this debt.

I am not financially linked to him, but he is my husband. I have paid a lot of money over the last few years paying off his debts (eg, bounced insurance, mobile bills etc) and am finding it a struggle to cover everything without borrowing from family members which is not what I want to do.
My question is -am I liable for his debt as his wife?

~Beanie~

No, is the quick answer.

asmwp

so long as you are not finacially tied then no, you are not liable. However if he has been making any payments towards the household or morgage then he may have a benifical interest which could possibly be used. This would need someone more qualified than my self to confirm or deny.

Tixy

You are not liable to pay the debt, but he does need to come up with a suitable repayment offer to them.
You mention a mortgage, if this is on a jointly owned house then potentially they will be interested in any equity in that property.

Perhaps you could suggest he contacts business debtline for some free impartial advice on the best way to deal with this debt?

turquoiseshed

Tixy wrote: »

You are not liable to pay the debt, but he does need to come up with a suitable repayment offer to them.
You mention a mortgage, if this is on a jointly owned house then potentially they will be interested in any equity in that property.

Perhaps you could suggest he contacts business debtline for some free impartial advice on the best way to deal with this debt?

thanks that's great. No I own the house & pay all the bills. Good suggestion re business debtline thanks

simeyb

The answer as per other posts is "no" - you are not liable. Re the debt itself, the best thing to do is to speak to HMRC to work out a repayment plan - although if he has earnt zero'ish, is the £3k he owes the right figure? The worst thing to do is to do nothing - HMRC are reasonable if you make an effort.

CKhalvashi

simeyb wrote: »

The answer as per other posts is "no" - you are not liable. Re the debt itself, the best thing to do is to speak to HMRC to work out a repayment plan - although if he has earnt zero'ish, is the £3k he owes the right figure? The worst thing to do is to do nothing - HMRC are reasonable if you make an effort.

You'd need to earn approx £24k a year to pay £3k in tax, and this is just for one year.

In all honesty, to put aside £60 a week of £500 isn't that difficult.

HMRC, should you negotiate with them at an early stage, are very reasonable to deal with IMO.

CK

FredWhispers

The taxman is a law unto himself. Far worse than the banks, debt collectors and Mr Council Tax!

bargainbetty

FredWhispers wrote: »

The taxman is a law unto himself. Far worse than the banks, debt collectors and Mr Council Tax!

Not actually true - they have always been exceptionally helpful when I have contacted them on my own behalf, for clients and others. They are very easy to deal with if you keep them fully informed of your situation (they don't like catching you in lies, but who does) and are generally willing to reach an agreement that is reasonable.

The OP's husband may be asked to show how he intends to avoid the situation going forward (monthly payments, separate trading accounts etc), which is also reasonable.

turquoiseshed

CKhalvashi wrote: »

You'd need to earn approx £24k a year to pay £3k in tax, and this is just for one year.

In all honesty, to put aside £60 a week of £500 isn't that difficult.

HMRC, should you negotiate with them at an early stage, are very reasonable to deal with IMO.

CK

Thanks for your answer- he did have it aside to pay to begin with, but then used it to help him when he ran out of money, thinking he has some more contracts coming in that would easily pay the tax bill when it was due but unfortnately they were cancelled or postponed indefinitely.

turquoiseshed

thanks everyone for advice -no more needed currently
thanks