IVA Concerns for self employed

steve30300

Hi All
After much deliberation I have decided to go down the IVA route with Grant Thornton, initially I approached StepChange on recommendation from a friend who put me in touch with GT as I was informed that they do not deal with the self employed.

My concern is that I have only been self employed since February 14 and they require a company projection for the year, do I
Calculate my companies accounts for the first three months and use them?

If so what do I need to show ie. Gross turnover, fuel etc..

Your advice will be greatly appreciated

Regards Steve

elljay

Speak first to Business Debtline, Stepchange aren't specialists in business debts (though are very helpful indeed). Business Debtline were stunningly helpful to me, went through all my options, spent ages discussing with me and were so reassuring. They followed it up with further information.

I'm self employed too, sole trader and they grasped everything quickly as they know all the ins and outs of running a small business. bdl.org.uk.

steve30300

Thanks for that, my debts are not business related does that matter?

Regards

elljay

Doesn't matter, mine were a mixture of both. Unless you are running a ltd company you're a sole trader so your business debts are your personal debts and vice versa. If you have a ltd company they will advise you accordingly. I really do suggest you give them a go. They went through all my personal and business-related expenses to come up with a solution. Maybe I was just lucky but my adviser was really clued up.

steve30300

I am the Director of my limited company, there are no company debts to deal with just personal, I will give them a call tomorrow many thanks for the heads up.

UpToMyNeckInIt

Hi Steve,

Your accountant should be able to draw up the projections. If you have not got one, GET ONE. That is the single best bit of advice for any self-employed set up: Company and personal tax affairs are a nightmare to manage yourself whilst trying to run a business as well.

You want to instruct your accountant to provide realistic projections which factor in likely business expenditure, keeping the figure low enough to make an IVA viable, whilst keeping your IVA repayment nice and low.

Any accounts etc. required by your IVA firm will also look so much more credible coming from an accountant.

How far down the IVA process are you? If you have not had your creditors meeting yet, you do not have to 'settle' for Grant Thornton. (Just Google 'Grant Thornton complaints' and read the horror stories).

...Anyone else still believe Stepchange are 'impartial'? Personally I don't think it's right for a National debt charity to have such a cosy IVA referral arrangement to just one 'private sector' company.

Speak to 2-3 IVA firms (Google 'insolvency practitioner reviews'. 3rd or 4th result down takes you to a nice little review/comparison site). A smaller firm is likely to give you much better service than an IVA factory like GT.

I made the mistake of going with the first firm I came across, and with hindsight, wish that I had been a little more choosy.

Best of luck.