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cosmicherb wrote: »

Hi,
Apologies, this is a long story, but I am in a bit of a mess, and I need to get it out.

I'm a UK based, mid-management type who works in construction (office-based). I've been working on a freelance/contract basis with my own limited company for the last 5 years now. I changed from a permanent role to go into a job in the oil and gas sector, which in 2013 was booming. Day rates were good; very good. I worked in Scotland, away from home in Yorkshire, but had plenty of money and lived a good lifestyle with nice holidays, cars, etc. We could expense anything and ate out in nice places on a weekly basis. In mid-2014 the oil price started dropping like a stone. This wasn't a massive issue for me as the project I was working on was already well under way and it would have cost more to pull it. Some companies dropped their day rates, but ours didn't. All that happened was the free-and-easy days of expenses were over, but we kept working and the project's physical phase ended in mid-2015.

I worked in London for the last 6 months of the project, tying up final accounts and paperwork. I was reimbursed for hotel, travel and reasonable food bills. It was then that I made a big mistake, which I have regretted ever since. I left the job, unsure of how much longer it would last and not given any assurances, to take what I thought would be a nice number near home working for a small company set up by friends, even if the rate was a lot lower (but no travelling costs). At this point I was not debt free (a couple of credit cards had built up) but was up to date with taxes, VAT and so on.

The new job was a disaster. The company fell apart and was asset stripped by vulture capitalists within a year after the directors fell out, one of them getting sacked from the company he set up, and sensing where it was going, I took another contract job with a pipeline contractor near Aberdeen. Rate wasn't brilliant, but the costs for living away were high (I had to pay for all travel costs myself). It was at this point that I started falling behind on corporation tax. I had bills to pay at home, including the two credit cards (now maxed out) and to support myself and where I would have been saving some money for tax, I wasn't doing it any more.

That job came to an end when again there were no assurances forthcoming as to length of contract. Another job was lined up, but I was out of work for a month, finishing just before Christmas. The debts continued to grow, and at the end of January 2017 I had a larger-than-expected corporation tax bill hitting the doormat. I had to take out a personal loan of £12k with my personal bank to pay it, managing to scrape together the other £2-3k together somehow. That was an additional £600 payment to service.

So in late January I finally started the new contract job and it paid a pittance. Pretty much half the rate I had been on only a year before. I was reimbursed capped expenses, but they didn't cover the costs of even the cheapest hotels available where I was working (Rosyth dockyard in Fife, with hundreds of people working on aircraft carriers and bridges). I was basically surviving at this point, struggling to keep head above water. And then the boiler at home packed in and we had to borrow 3 grand from my in-laws.

Within a month, the person I reported to was sacked for undisclosed reasons. Move forward 5 months. A new manager arrived in our client!!!8217;s organisation and decided to trim the team and I was in the firing line as the most expensive asset in our team. Fan-bloody-tastic. Within a couple of weeks I was gone, and the long-term stability seemed further away than ever.

What followed was 3 months of desperate job-searching. I travelled all over the UK and to various places in Europe trying to get a job. I got very close on multiple occasions, even having jobs offered and withdrawn within 24 hours (ARRRGGHHH), borrowing more money from relatives, going to the Job Centre and claiming JSA. it was massively dispiriting. I had to make an arrangement with HMRC for a VAT bill of £4,500.

I ended up getting yet another job in Scotland. Right up the top, near John O'Groats. Decent-ish rate, but again I had to fork out for travel and accommodation, which again wan't cheap. The 3 months off have put me on my backside now, however. I've got another VAT bill outstanding and also a corporation tax bill for £12k which I have been unable to save up for and now pay. The personal debts are becoming unserviceable. I am paying nearly £4k a month just to keep my head above water. If this job ends, I'm really in deep do-do. I've been working away from my family for nearly 5 years and ended up in a lot of debt. I am giving serious consideration to taking a job overseas, somewhere like Dubai, but even with the kind of money I could get, I'd still just be managing. I'm seriously worried about the impact on my family. I have nothing in the way of assets; my wife owns our house. Will they come after her? (I have 2 cars on HP as well which I'm not including in my numbers).

By my reckoning I have personal debts of £33.5k made up of:
Bank loan (to pay off corp tax) - £8k remaining
Credit cards (3 separate) - £13.5k
HMRC Self-Assessment tax - £2k
Family loans - £10k

I also have company debts of £30k made up of:
Corporation tax - £12.5k
VAT - £6k
Company Credit Cards - £11.5k

Wow, when I write it out, it looks ridiculous. I can't believe how quickly it's spiralled and I can't believe I've let it get to this state.

I can't see many options. I could let the HMRC and other creditors put my limited company into liquidation, but I'm sure I'll still be liable personally, which is fine. I do want to pay it back, but I also want to live and allow my family to remain unaffected.

So my question is: would I be able to get into a DMP including these company debts, or do I need to wait for the creditors to take my company down and then roll it in with my personal debt? Would taking a job in Dubai be a wise move?

Thanks for reading!