let down by accountant - personal tax bill I can't pay

[finbar78]

Hi all,

I am limited company and have been landed with a huge personal tax bill and not enough money to pay it. I can't take out a loan or credit card to cover the amount. Can anyone PM me and recommend a good accountant who could go over my figures?

I'm more than slightly concerned that if I can't pay my personal tax bill I will be pursued through the courts, resulting in a CCJ. I work in the financial industry and a CCJ would lead to instant dismissal leaving me with no hope of paying the bill.

Many thanks!

[northernladuk]

Look at the Welcome/FAQ section. There is a stickie on how to search.

Use that to look for accountant recommendation and you will find many threads plus one that has a whole host of accountants that we use on this board.

You could also try the front page that has a number of reputable accountants on or the PCG who has some listed.

I would be interested to know how you got this personal tax bill and why you didn't know you were going to get it. I presume you have just been taking too many divis out with a care or thought for the consequence? Are you sure you haven't run your company in to trouble by doing this as well using the same approach? As a LTD director you are legally responsible for your companies finances don't forget. Might be worth asking your accountant to look through your company affairs and then take him on full time to run it going forward.

[jmo21]

Hi all,

I am limited company and have been landed with a huge personal tax bill and not enough money to pay it. I can't take out a loan or credit card to cover the amount. Can anyone PM me and recommend a good accountant who could go over my figures?

I'm more than slightly concerned that if I can't pay my personal tax bill I will be pursued through the courts, resulting in a CCJ. I work in the financial industry and a CCJ would lead to instant dismissal leaving me with no hope of paying the bill.

Many thanks!

Must be a sockie!

If you can't manage your own finances and dive into paying yourself via a ltd co and feck it up that bad, I'd rather you didn't get into a financial institution that I may be a customer of.

[tractor]

Must be a sockie!

If you can't manage your own finances and dive into paying yourself via a ltd co and feck it up that bad, I'd rather you didn't get into a financial institution that I may be a customer of.

WJMO21S

[Jim2010]

Rightly or wrongly some people do get themselves into difficult situations. Rather than judge them and make them feel even worse about their situation the point of this forum is to offer help and advice

[cojak]

If there is a point to these forums it's for all readers to take away lessons and that includes not getting into these situations in the first place - it's tough love around here.

And not even love if the regulars think that someone is trying to fool them by using a sock puppet to make up a sob-story.

Of course the OP (read 'all OPs') can show that they are genuine by explaining how they got into this predicament. We are more sympathetic if they show a bit of self-awareness.

[tractor]

...

If there is a point to these forums it's for all readers to take away lessons and that includes not getting into these situations in the first place - it's tough love around here.

And not even love if the regulars think that someone is trying to fool them by using a sock puppet to make up a sob-story.

Of course the OP (read 'all OPs') can show that they are genuine by explaining how they got into this predicament. We are more sympathetic if they show a bit of self-awareness.

what Cojak said...

There is a long ol' road between getting a bill and losing your house/car/boat/whatever. Get an accountant, verify the bill, mitigate it if you can then come to some arrangement with HMRC for the balance. They are mostly quite accomodating. They will also write off amounts in certain circumstances. If they think you are messing them about though, they will be far less accomodating.

Do tell us how you arrived in that state though, so that others might benefit.

[sbakoola]

Sorry to hear that finbar78, I know someone who was in this position 3 years ago. They got a small accountant from "Ooop North" who just advised to pay wages only, no dividends (whaaat ?) via the limited that the contractor was operating with. The contractor in question did alot of commuting from Manchester into an IB at Canary Wharf and he even got a flat there eventually. He managed to avoid the CCJ in the end but he had to get another accountant. He told me that the original bad accountant gave him some spiel about offsetting tax with expenses claims or something, sounded like nonsense to me.

Shame you are new to this forum as you could PM me and I could put you in contact with the contractor who had the problem.

[VectraMan]

Sorry to hear that finbar78, I know someone who was in this position 3 years ago. They got a small accountant from "Ooop North" who just advised to pay wages only, no dividends (whaaat ?) via the limited that the contractor was operating with.

How do you get into trouble being paid as salary only? Or was he ignoring PAYE?

How is it that somebody earns banking type money, but can't possibly get a loan and/or credit cards to pay the tax?

[sbakoola]

How do you get into trouble being paid as salary only? Or was he ignoring PAYE?

How is it that somebody earns banking type money, but can't possibly get a loan and/or credit cards to pay the tax?

I can't remember the exact details but I think he was paying a ridiculous low amount of PAYE tax 12% or something and NO he wasn't offshore it was a UK limited he was working through (I'm pretty sure) with a one man band accountant from up North somewhere who obviously didn't have a clue about I.T. contracting limited companies.

I think he like many in Britain were just living month to month with a small warchest like many novice contractors sometimes do, not in debt but not swimming in money either. IBs don't make I.T. contractors super rich or I.T. permies for that matter.