Old Umbrella Company (Tailored) in Liquidation

[eek]

First of all, have you confirmed (or otherwise) whether you did or did not have a loan with Tailored? It might not have been called a loan, but check your paperwork and see if your payments from them were split into two - a base amount and an additional amount. And check how much tax and NI was declared as being paid on your payslips.

If you're confident that you did not have a loan, paid the full taxes due, and HMRC are of the same opinion (is your self-assessment fully up to date, for example, no open enquiries, open years etc), then you can probably breathe more easily.

But, if you've had to work with HMRC to settle outstanding tax bills, read the threads on this board to help you understand why it might be possible that funds you "earned" *could* also still be classified (legally) as a loan.

Also does your PAYE salary in your annual statement (which comes from HMRC's PAYE systems) match what you were paid in salary or is it far smaller - I suspect that is actually the most useful sanity check you can find.

[Laith]

I have been following this thread for some time now - has anyone found a decent solicitor we can go to for some advise and representation yet?

I've found reading this thread from start to finish a little confusing. Mixed messages regarding on what action to take and who to use. WTT being mentioned as not the best advisers as they are tax solicitors and this isn't a tax dispute and then being recommended as someone to go to for advice? Not too sure..

I have managed to speak to two independent liquidators and an insolvency lawyer who have all mentioned in the first instance to contact the liquidator in writing, disputing the debt and asking for any evidence. This was purely from a cost savings perspective. It's the steps mentioned earlier in this thread by one of the mods. I think if that does not work then maybe seek legal representation? I've logged queries with local solicitors just to get an idea of fees etc.

[eek]

I've found reading this thread from start to finish a little confusing. Mixed messages regarding on what action to take and who to use. WTT being mentioned as not the best advisers as they are tax solicitors and this isn't a tax dispute and then being recommended as someone to go to for advice? Not too sure..

I have managed to speak to two independent liquidators and an insolvency lawyer who have all mentioned in the first instance to contact the liquidator in writing, disputing the debt and asking for any evidence. This was purely from a cost savings perspective. It's the steps mentioned earlier in this thread by one of the mods. I think if that does not work then maybe seek legal representation? I've logged queries with local solicitors just to get an idea of fees etc.

The question was - - "has anyone found a decent solicitor we can go to for some advise and representation yet?"

And given that EXACT question - the only answer to give on a public forum is to use the only person who is visible and offering group advice - so webberg and WTT.

Now WTT are not the people I would personally use in this circumstance but that wasn't the question that Alyssum asked and so my answer to his question may differ from my personal advice.

[Laith]

The question was - - "has anyone found a decent solicitor we can go to for some advise and representation yet?"

And given that EXACT question - the only answer to give on a public forum is to use the only person who is visible and offering group advice - so webberg and WTT.

Now WTT are not the people I would personally use in this circumstance but that wasn't the question that Alyssum asked and so my answer to his question may differ from my personal advice.

Well I think it’s important to mention both answers in this case seen as they are both equally useful and important. People don’t have the time to go to a tax adviser and then later read you saying that you wouldn’t personally use them due to the fundamental nature of the enquiry. Thanks for aligning your answers.

[webberg]

Let's be very clear.

WTT started life as and remain tax specialists. Our niche is contractors and all tax matters relating to them. This includes historic enquiry, current issues such as loan charge and future matters such as IR35 reform and what it means.

In the course of equipping ourselves to do the above, it became necessary to acquire knowledge and advice from other professionals including lawyers, insolvency practitioners, regulators and others.

The legal side in particular became busy enough for us to form our own legal practice which has been running for eighteen months now. Their work is focused on IR35 but we call upon their knowledge on other matters as well.

In the course of researching the schemes, we have developed connections with the necessary professions such as insolvency and regulatory. This is a mutual exercise in that often other firms ask us to explain schemes and elements within them, documents, etc in order to educate themselves enough to reach the start line of whatever exercise they may be doing.

The alternative is that the lawyer/IP/etc spend their own time doing the research which they may or may not charge for.

We have also found that lawyers etc are reluctant to take on large numbers of individuals as clients, even where their cause is a common one. This is more to do with money laundering and know your customer regulation which can be time consuming and costly. Many prefer to deal with us (or another collator of similarly impacted individuals) as their client and rely upon our diligence for AML/KYC.

It's also a fact that many of the issues around these schemes which are not - on the face of it - tax issues, often have a tax effect. It's pointless creating a legal solution to people asking for money if by doing so, you also create or trigger a tax liability.

Finally, if there are moderate numbers of people with the same problem and similar circumstances, then sharing the cost of going to a lawyer/IP/etc is sensible. Lawyers are relatively expensive - say a few hundred pounds an hour. IP firms perhaps less so but time and money racks up quickly. A group contributing to the cost is obviously a lower per capita exercise.

I'm sorry for the prolonged explanation/advert but there are some misconceptions above that could not be allowed to pass.

The above model is probably not unique but is also not common.

Other advisory firms may have similar skill sets and/or access to other professions.

[eek]

Well I think it’s important to mention both answers in this case seen as they are both equally useful and important. People don’t have the time to go to a tax adviser and then later read you saying that you wouldn’t personally use them due to the fundamental nature of the enquiry. Thanks for aligning your answers.

Given the seriousness of the issues that are involved I actually don't think it's too much to suggest people actually read all the posts and investigate further until they understand exactly what is going on and what they may need to do.

As at the end of the day it is up to you as an individual to decide what to do and while I could spoon feed you an answer I really don't think that's the best approach as it was lack of research and double checks that led you into this mess in the first place.

[Laith]

Given the seriousness of the issues that are involved I actually don't think it's too much to suggest people actually read all the posts and investigate further until they understand exactly what is going on and what they may need to do.

As at the end of the day it is up to you as an individual to decide what to do and while I could spoon feed you an answer I really don't think that's the best approach as it was lack of research and double checks that led you into this mess in the first place.

There’s no need to state the obvious. Nobody is asking to be spoon fed and nobody is going to take what you say as gospel either. It’s genuine advice people not so clued up on are asking for. All I’m saying is your answers contradicted themselves and you only have to read the entire thread as you mentioned to notice. We’re all aware of the situation and people are genuinely worried so no need to criticise. It’s easy to sit behind your keyboard..

[eek]

There’s no need to state the obvious. Nobody is asking to be spoon fed and nobody is going to take what you say as gospel either. It’s genuine advice people not so clued up on are asking for. All I’m saying is your answers contradicted themselves and you only have to read the entire thread as you mentioned to notice. We’re all aware of the situation and people are genuinely worried so no need to criticise. It’s easy to sit behind your keyboard..

Um asking who people are talking to rather than phoning up a solicitor directly is asking to be spoon fed.

Asking why my advice appears to be inconsistent is asking to be spoon fed - if you looked at the question and went back to my previous comments you can see why the advice differs (I've always said find your own lawyer, but this question was who should I talk to. Which is literally WTT / webberg as that's the only visible option).

And Yes I know people are genuinely worried but that doesn't excuse people from taking the steps they have been told that they need to take. The Liquidators letter says go and get advice, yet people are then coming here and asking completely anonymous strangers to spoon feed them answers - and that really isn't a good idea as you don't know what biases and incentives those posters have...

And yes it's easy to sit here behind a keyboard and type but being blunt I'm not doing this for fun and I could easily find better things to do with my time. But I believe its worth my time stopping people from doing stupid things which would make their situation worse and that means for better and for worse I spend time here trying to help people while holding my growing annoyance at the stupidity and arrogance of people in check.

[Toorar]

Joint action/Group against Tailored

Umbrella company: Tailored UK Serviced Limited/ Tailored Resourcing and Accountancy/ Tailored Services
Director: Brendan Beeken (Who has been appointed and removed a number of times through company history)
Solicitor: Matthew Whyatt, Wilber Smith is the firm but he also acts as Director at ASW Solicitors

This is the impression I got. The email has a link to a website for ASW solicitors it takes me to a website in construction page. His email is an ASW solicitors domain. Phone number is a personal mobile. Very dodge!

HI ALL CAN WE GET HELP FROM SOLICITORS AS A JOINT GROUP? This may save us money?

[eek]

HI ALL CAN WE GET HELP FROM SOLICITORS AS A JOINT GROUP? This may save us money?

If you want a group then phone WTT and see webberg's posts on here.

But read this entire thread - this is an issue you need to fix personally so spend time reading this thread to understand what has happened and what your options are.