HMRC Debt Bankrupcy Help & Advice

CEX

Hi everyone, I am new here and wanted to see if you guys can give me any advice reguarding being made bankrupted by HMRC.

Basically I owe HMRC £65k in Tax/VAT & cant afford to pay if off. I have tried to negotiate a repayment plan, but they would not allow a repayment plan that goes over 1 year & if i cant pay they would make me bankupted.


I'am self employed and last few years have been living "hand to mouth" & living off credit cards.
I currently have a house with a mortgage of £120k outstanding with a market value of roughly £220k. 85% of the mortgage was put up by me & my wife & 15% by the Developers. So effectively I own 42.5%, the wife 42.5% & the developers 15%


I have been living off my credit card recently, i have been keeping up payments with these for now by paying the minimum payments but owe about £20k in total.


First question is, i presume that i will be losing my house? I do have Children as well, so my understanding is once made bannkrupt i have a year to find alternative accomendation? We currently have no savings & mortage is in mine & wifes name.


Secondly, if made bankrupt would my credit card debt also be cleared or would i still need to pay them off as well?

In the last few days, I think they are trying to serve a Statutory Demand or baliff are trying to make contact. As I have seen a woman on my CCTV knocking on my door holding some letters with a camera on her chest, waiting around for a few minutes, sat in her car for 10-15mins before driving off. No phone calls or letters posted through the door. Can they force entry into my property & start taking stuff?

What would your advise be to wait for HMRC to make me bankrupt or for me to voluntry make myself bankrupt. My main worry is the house, if i made myself bankrupt, what would my position be on my home?

Sorry about the long post, as i have so much on my plate at the moment & really would appreciate any help from anyone in the know.

TheGardener

Hi and welcome. Judging by the time of the morning you posted - you are not sleeping well either...
Have you talked to any of the free debt charities? Business Debtline/Stepchange/CAB etc?

Firstly - ALL unsecured debts will fall into the BR (there are one or two exceptions like court fines and student loans ) so that's everything - right down to the balance on your gas bill (assuming the gas bill is in your name) so no, you wont have to pay the CC's. BR is a completely fresh start with a clean slate

Now is the time to get free professional advice and start making plans - close any joint accounts or your BR will trash your wife credit history too.

If HMRC make you BR - they will pay the costs, if you go voluntarily you pay the costs (around £800ish I think at the mo)

Your house. The OR has upto 3 years to deal with the house but your wife has the option to make an offer to the OR to buy out your share (beneficial interest) The amount offered can reflect the costs the OR would have if they sold it such as agents, marketing, legal work etc so the OR will accept an offer lower than the actual face value of your share - its a negotiation. However, you need to check the terms of the shared ownership to see what happens if you go BR.

Do an SoA and post it one here so we can help with it - this site has one that you can format to post on this board

Now is the time to take back control of your finances and future - read the stickie posts at the front of this forum board and remember there is no money problem that doesn't have a solution. IF the BR is a certainly - then stop paying all your debts now and start saving up for a rental deposit n case the house does go.

maxmycardagain

If HMRC make you BR - they will pay the costs, if you go voluntarily you pay the costs (around £800ish I think at the mo)

and HMRC will get between jack and sod all....

they are bluffing

JCS1

maxmycardagain wrote: »

and HMRC will get between jack and sod all....

they are bluffing

HMRC do use bankruptcy as a way of closing the case.

maxmycardagain

JCS1 wrote: »

HMRC do use bankruptcy as a way of closing the case.

nose/face/off/spite/cut


I owed £10,000 to HMRC but they never mentioned making me bankrupt..

one advantage of having nothing I suppose :beer:

ramtops

They weren't bluffing with my husband - they bankrupted him for £13k. We had nothing too.

maxmycardagain

ramtops wrote: »

They weren't bluffing with my husband - they bankrupted him for £13k. We had nothing too.

and they got how much?

sourcrates

maxmycardagain wrote: »

and they got how much?

It dosent matter if they make a monetory gain or a loss, if the client cannot make a reasonable repayment offer, they simply do it to close the case regardless, and also to send out a message to others who don`t pay, harsh, and certainly not a bluff, thats just the way it is.

Minkym00

The Official Receiver has 3 years to deal with a family home. You have approx £42.5k equity, which means the Insolvency Service will very likely appoint an Insolvency Practitioner to deal with the asset as they’re only interested in property with £30k+ of equity. The Insolvency Practitioner will offer your wife the beneficial interest, but if that is not possible they will sell it (and take a shed load of costs). The Official Receivers will take £8k in fees. Whatever is left will be distributed proportionately to all your creditors.

If you are working the Official Receiver will assess your household income and expenditure and set up an Income Payments Agreement for you to pay them surplus monthly income for 36 months.

If you stop paying the cards, save the cash you would have otherwise paid in your wife solely owned bank account as the Insolvency Service can’t touch that. But you will be asked to explain it when they check your bank statements.

antonic

maxmycardagain wrote: »

and they got how much?

HMRC may get nothing, but making you bankrupt they acheived two things
1) They stopped you running up even more debt that you couldnt pay , as they have a duty to protect the public purse and
2) They trashed your credit history for 6 years.

John_G_Jones

maxmycardagain wrote: »

and HMRC will get between jack and sod all....

they are bluffing

What about the large amount of equity in the house? Why do you claim that they will. It get that eventually?