Advice needed - returning to UK after 10 years abroad with tax debts

CannedHotdogs

Back in 2009 I was working for a company which hired us on a self-employed basis.  I registered after a few months of working there, but then shortly after I left the job - this would have been around Nov 09 - and by the time the deadline for Jan self-assessment came around, I had already forgotten about it.  My career was coming to an end and I retrained as an ESL teacher and moved to asia in Dec 2010.  A few months before I left, letters from HMRC started arriving at my dads house - I wasn't there all the time so I dont know how many came.  They were asking for unpaid tax, plus penalty fees.  I foolishly decided not to deal with it as I was going through a lot of upheaval and about to leave the UK anyway.  I am now looking at returning to the UK after 10.5 years away and am worried about what might be waiting for me with HMRC.   It was initially just a few months work at a relatively low wage, but failure to submit self-assessment and failure to act on it at all over the last decade make me worry that I may be returning to a huge bill, or even a court judgment.  Is there any chance this will have been written off given the amount of time that has passed, or is it going to come for me as soon as I get a job and start earning again?  What kind of payment plans can be put in place?  one hundred a month or would they expect more?  I'm pretty freaked out, the idea of having to move back and start over is already stressful, the threat of having bankruptcy or jail hanging over me is even worse.

sourcrates

HMRC can chase income tax debts from as far back as 20 years.

So they will not have forgotten about you.

They have various methods of recovery for outstanding income tax debts, these include -

• Recover the Amount from your Bank Account

• Confiscating your Possessions

• Taking it from your Income or Pension

• By the use of Debt Collectors

• Legal Action 

They can even take it from your state pension, when it falls due, so you can`t escape this if you intend to come back to this country `I'm afraid.

Best advice is to contact them, explain it as best you can, and throw yourself at their mercy.