Not Paid TAX For 18 Years - HELP!!!

[waston1966]

Hi,

I found this Web Site and I need some help with a VERY BIG tax problem I have. I am sure that no one hear will have ever come across a case like this and I know the HMRC will just lock me up and throw away the key and I just feel like ending my life at the moment, I can’t sleep at night and I VERY WORRIED that I will end up in jail. I just hope that someone hear can give me some good advice as what to do.

I was in FULL Time employment until May 1994 and was paying TAX and NI under the company who I worked for PAYE System. I then my FULL Time job and started to work as a Self Employed IT Consultant. I had 3 posts from June 1994 until November 1999. For this I setup a LTD Company and the money I earned was paid into a Company’s Bank Account. And I transferred money i needed into a Personal Account. I have not used or accessed these accounts since year 2000 and I think that they have been closed by the bank as I never gave them my new address when I moved addresses.

I never registered as being Self Employed with the HMRC.

From the year 2000 up until December 2012 I have worked 'CASH IN HAND' for a good friend of mines business. From the year 2000 up to now I have earned between £150.00 a week back in the year 2000 to £200.00 now. None of this ever went into a Bank Account so I have no records of how much I earned over this period. My Friends Business has now ceased trading and I am now looking for a FULL Time Job under PAYE.

During this time I have moved several times BUT never received any letters from HMRC.

I never told them that I was self-employed and I don’t even know what my NI Number is which I will need if I find a new job. A lot of my old records got lost during a house move back in 1999.

I got married in July 2012 and my wife has not told HMRC about this because she didn’t want to get me into trouble and she is claiming TAX Credits and Child TAX Credits which she is entitled to.

We are expecting a baby in a few months and I am I really don’t know what to do or how to even star sorting this mess out without being prosecuted and sent to jail.

I don’t have ANY Savings, We live in a Rented House, I don’t have any Assets, e.g. Car or House, we just live of what my Wife Earns until I get a FULL Time Job. I have been told that I would be able to claim Tax Credits at least. I have never claimed ANYTHING in my life.

I have started to Sell a few Items on EBAY but have only made about £50.00 Profit in the past 3 Months but plan to sell more. I have Opened a New Personal and Business Bank Account and have a Business EBAY Account setup and I really need to tell HMRC that I am trading on EBAY.

I do hope someone can give me some good advice as to what to do as I just want to end my life at the moment.

I need to get my NI Number so I can Register as Self Employed but if I fill out the form on the HMRC Web Site will that set alarm bells ringing at HMRC and the DWP?

What date do I put down as starting Self Employment?

HELP HELP HELP

I AM REALLY WORRIED ABOUT GOING TO JAIL AS I KNOW THEY WILL MAKE AN EXAMPLE OF ME!!!!

[Stevens]

My advice is to appoint a professional advisor and get this mess sorted out before HMRC come looking for you, far better this way.

Regards

Adrian Stevens
Brooks Mayfield Chartered Accountants
adrianstevens@brooksmayfield.co.uk

[taxtime]

You will definitely need to speak to a tax specialist, preferably someone that either previously worked for HMRC or who has a proven track record. You need to make a managed disclosure. Don't be surprised if they ask you for fees up front, you are likely to be viewed as someone that could be a non-payer.

Have you truly had no bank accounts in your name? If you have had, HMRC have ways of finding them. They may be able to look at addresses you lived at (unless you manage to convince them you lived in a tent in the quantocks).
They will want to know how you lived on that small an amount of money.

An unprompted disclosure could mean reduced penalties, but if you wait for them to find you this could be harder for your agent to negociate for you.

The HMRC will be able to pull up your credit history if they sought to. If you have been servicing a lifestyle of 400 a week saying you only got 150-200 wont wash.

Also, if you worked for your friend cash in hand for those years and you were an employee not self-employed they should have operated PAYE. There may be a conspiracy to defraud. What is the status of your friend's business? Were they a ghost enterprise too? Did they ever declare? What did you do? Window cleaning ? Labouring?

Your wife has married you with no assets, car, house, legitimate job and is now having a baby with you. Maybe even getting done for fraud wont dent her desire, but claiming tax credits and not notifying a change of circumstances could land her in hot water. Does she have a child already to get Child Tax Credits? It may well be that she is not entitled to them. Is she planning to return to work after the baby is born?
Google "tax credit fraud hmrc" and you will find lots of information. Mumsnet went boogaloo when people were discovered in droves having someone living with them.

What the HMRC can do, and what they actually do in practice can be different.
They are likely to be unimpressed with versions of "the dog ate my homework", but if you don't own anything, they cannot take it. If you are buying to sell on ebay, that is trading. If you don't have a bank account are you using your wife's paypal?
Find someone experienced.

[taxtime]

Well that was the unamended version of my post. Watson, I have sent you a private message.
If you are new here you may not know to look in your inbox.

[nikkisizer]

Hello waston1966,

You do need to seek urgent professional advice and preferably from not only a qualified Accountant but one who is also a registered agent with HMRC.

A registered Agent with HMRC can be authorised by yourself to act on your behalf so your chosen Accountant can deal directly with HMRC for you.

Happy to help if required so if you need any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.