HELP!!! January tax bill looming - in desperate need of help

BlueSkyProspero

Hi,

I am currently on a DMP struggling through and hoping to get there eventually! :-/

I recently suffered some water/damp damage to my property and to cut a very long story short although I am in the process of seeking compensation, I have had no choice but to pay for some repair work upfront in the meantime. As I am in debt and struggling to pay my DMP, the only cash I had available was what I had set aside for my tax bill in January! £2000 to be precise.

So I am now in the position of needing to lay my hands on £2000 to pay my tax bill by 31st of January.

Does anyone have any words of advice or wisdom on how best to manage this? I am obviously panicking / berating myself, but I have a history of experiencing huge anxiety about my debts, especially the thought of missing the dreaded HMRC deadlines, and so I am trying to breathe, remain calm and work out a sensible plan of action methodically.

I guess the options are:

• credit card (but I've a very poor credit rating so probably won't be able to access that kind of limit even on a scary Vanquis type card)
• loan??
• Trying to find some additional work around my job...!!
• Asking HMRC to give me some breathing space...

Any thoughts??

I would be so grateful to hear some friendly advice from those who have been in my position before I have to face the judgemental tones of HMRC call centre...

Thanks so much in advance! :-)

sourcrates

Hi,

Answers for you here :

https://www.gov.uk/difficulties-paying-hmrc/overview

January2015

Tax is a priority debt - see this link

As well as following the advice on Sourcrates link, I would drop the DMP payments to token £1 p/month payments to each creditor until the tax debt is cleared.

If your DMP is with a charity, e.g. Stepchange, National Debtline, talk to them and hopefully they will help you organise all of this.

If you are self managed write to all your creditors and inform them of the circumstances, but do make a token payment each month to show you are still committed to clearing your debts.

elainec

Hi, Just wanted to say that we had to arrange monthly payments last year for a tax bill (my husband had no work for a while and we had to use our savings) and they are really helpful and not judgemental.
These things happen, i think the best thing is to call and explain.