im pooping myself I just cant afford the tax!!

1julieeiluj1

My partner is a selfemployed Taxi driver. He only earns £300 a week out of that is all the expenses as well. I earn about £600 a month. His tax bill is now £1700. We dont go out,smoke buy new clothes we are bloody hermits!! I have talked to the Tax people and the women went through my inns and outs with me and then said someone else will be in touch. I dont understand how it got so bad I wouldnt mind if we were lying but im not.The bill just keeps going up I pay £100 a month but it doesnt seem to go down. Honestly I dont squander out money. We have a motrgage and only 1 credit card. All my clothes are charity shop stuff, we dont even go to the pictures. I also get £180 child tax credit a month. Any ideas apart from death would be very grateful!!!!!
Julie

mountainofdebt

I'm sure of you posted a list of your incomings and full outgoings on the debt free wanabee board then I'm sure someone will be able to help you.

The other thing to do is to keeping a spending diary for a fortnight where absolutely everything is recorded....

calleyw

Now I maybe being a bit on the thick side.

Why is he not putting anything away for his tax bill per week/month.

Even if it is a £50 a week that is put in to savings account that is not to be touched on pain of death or the Tax man needs it.

You say he ONLY earns 300 a week that is £1200 a month before Tax and National Insurance that is about £900 ish a month after and then your £600 and £180 tax credits and then child benefit that is £1720 a month.

we live off one wage of £15000 a year which is £950 ish a month and run a 3 bedroom house and a car, pay the CSA hideous amounts per month. And get no extra help. We don't put anything away in savings but we already have those but don't touch them.

You need to sit down and go through every bill. The mortgage,council tax,food bills, telephone, water, electric, gas (if you have any)and see what can be done. There must be somewhere to cut some slack. Unless you have huge mortgage. You have to be wasting it somewhere. As I know that we could live a lot better life with that sort of money coming every month.

I agree about keeping a spending diary. Everytime you spend something you write it down. You will see where your money is going.

Prehaps you should get over to the OS money saving forum they have tons of ideas of how to save money on loads of things. Like planning meals. Only go to the supermarket once a fortnight etc.

You also need to do a Statement of Affairs. So you list all income and all outgoings. And you should include for things like car tax, Mot's, Haircuts, Birthday and christmas as well as the obvious things like mortgage, water, telepone, mobiles etc.

Best of luck.

Yours

Calley

skintchick

It certainly looks like you have a lot coming in.

Go on debt-free wannabe and post a list of all your incomings AND outgoings, icnlusing any loans etc, and people will be able to advise where you can cut back.

You should always set aside money for your tax bill as a self-employed person, to save any nasty surprises, but that doesn;t help your situaion now, so go go debt-free wannabe and get some help.

I'm usually on that board and we're very nice!!

ctm_2

Make sure you have spoken to HMRC and made them aware of your situation. Unpaid bills will attract interest and surcharges. Also get everything to them on time to avoid penalties which will further add to your bill.

WHA

Just an idea - you have made sure that all tax returns have been completed and submitted havn't you?

When you say it's risen by £100, are you sure that isn't another late filing penalty for an outstanding tax return?

Is the amount the tax men want a "real" liability or is it an estimate based on not having sent the tax returns in?

Debt_Free_Chick

Just to second calleyw ... hubbie (or you) must, must, must have a "Do not touch this" savings account. Every single week, you need to put about 25% of that week's earnings into the account. At the end of the year, there will be enough to pay the tax and probably some left over.

The problem is, you and he think he's earning £300 a week ... but he's not. He's actually earning about £225 a week, once he's paid tax.

Start budgeting this way now, so you'll be OK for the future - then, you need to take into account the extra payments he needs to make to catch up on his tax arrears.

HTH

1julieeiluj1

Thanks every one Im gonna really try, xx