Hmrc debt

Mark321123

I owe approximately £22.000 with Hmrc, had the debt now for 11 years and haven’t paid a penny , this morning I received a statement from hmrc and said my balance is zero, and the word saying , not currently being pursued

What’s going to happen next

Thanks

National_Debtline

Hi Mark,


Firstly, there is a piece of legislation called the limitations act that does state, if there has been a 6 year block of time since the debt fell due, with no written acknowledgement or payment to the debt and no county court action started, then the debt may no longer be enforceable through the county court and becomes known as Statute Barred.


However, this does not apply to tax or 'any other duties due to the crown'. So it will depend exactly what this HMRC debt consists of. National Insurance Contributions and any penalties or charges can be covered by the limitations act, so it is possible some of this debt is too old to be enforced, but perhaps not all of it.


In this situation I would suggest that you keep that letter safe, and if the HMRC do try and pursue you at a later date you could try and argue that nothing is owed, according to that letter. However, in reality, you can only deal with that if/when it happens.

If you are still registered as self employed then it is important to de-registered or you will still be expected to file a tax return each year.


Laura
@natdebtline