Husband not been paying tax for years

If you divorce the money from the house will go to pay off anything that's owed. You need legal advice from someone who knows about money. Don't do anything before finding out the facts. Not sure it being a Ltd company protects you from the tax man.

Once again, HMRC can in some circumstances hold Directors of a LTD company personally liable for company debts

I know you have been married for years have kids ext but he will drag you down . He used your child’s money for Christ sake you need to open your eyes that’s not a red flag that’s a red country !!

I have little experience with v small company accountants so will take your word!

but you definitely need a tax specialist (which it sounds like he got) when negotiating with HMRC

the last thing he needs is a criminal record for fraud or to be made bankrupt as that could jeopardise his job

They’ll Be no early retirement but on that salary and at his age you can pull this back

They really can’t and won’t. Your accountant has no responsibility or obligation to make you pay your tax. They would never ask to see your bank statement as as they have no right to and you would simply say no (and sack them) truthfully, because it’s not their responsibility or business they don’t particularly care anyway.

you can of course hire an accountant or tax lawyer specifically to help with your tax problems and negotiate on your behalf. This isn’t the same scope or role as the accountant who does your stat accounts/ tax returns etc

Absolutely this.
There are many lovely smaller houses you could downsize into, 2 people do not need an 8 bedroom house.
Between downsizing and selling the Porsche, could raise the 150k needed to pay the tax bill. The practical side of this can be very easily resolved. The moral side of it though - much more challenging.

As others have said - how you could think you could live like this on that salary is really strange. You may not see the all the bank accounts but you would know how much things cost. DH and I earn just under 100k between us. With tax allowances, it's probably quite similar (after tax) to the 130k that your husband earns - I know he wasn't paying tax OP but you said you thought he was.
We live in a 4 bed house, drive 2 skoda's bought second hand, have 1 holiday a year.
As a poster said you were living way beyond your means, I just can't understand how you didn't know that?

There are lots of places now for training returners. I'd try a bootcamp with someone like ivee.

I think it must depend if it just a bank account held in trust for child or a proper trust fund. I have just removed the money from my child’s bank account held in trust by me for them and closed it down. DC was happy with this and made aware of it as I will transfer money to them (they are an adult) but I didn’t need to get their permission.

This was my thought too. What a terrible situation OP, I feel for you. You say you live him so divorce might not feel like the right thing for you but you do need to protect your finances, especially your home. Can you get independent legal advice?

@Bambamhoohoo
whilst they wouldn’t know where the cash was I think they would most likely suspect because they would most likely ask to see bank statements etc. but also more because this has been going on so long

although from what op said - perhaps the accountants came in quite late and were the ones who asked him what was going on!!

the point on the tax owed not being 500k and being 150k suggests there were quite a lot of penalties racking up which they’ve reduced - most likely because the accountants have been helping

The idea of a limited company is in the title. It is intended to limit a persons losses to what the company owns and owes.

If a company is able to borrow money, and go bust, the there is a well established principle for creditors to try to recoup their losses. Generally, taxman, secured creditors, unsecured creditors.

However, as pointed out previously, this all goes up in flames if a director or directors engage in fraudulent activity. Then they can become criminally liable, as well as personally liable for their debts.

Obviously recovering any monies is a different ball game.

With all due sympathy, I don't see how you could ever trust your husband again. So you might have to enter the next phase of your life in the knowledge that only you can be relied on to provide for yourself and your son.

Yes, this in spades. Cut your cloth accordingly, as my mum loves to say.

How? An accountant can’t see into your bank account to see if you’ve paid. If they aren’t authorised as your agent they can’t talk to HMRC. They have no idea whether you’ve paid or not.

accountants aren’t associated with evasion unless they’re actually involved. Every high street accountant has a % of clients who don’t pay their tax

So all in all you owe the mortgage company 100k and HMRC 150k and your son 30k

your DH earns 130k

you claim to have an 8 bed house worth 400k. Is that true? Perhaps get an estate agent round

so you need to release equity and seriously tighten your belts

you are actually in an extremely fortunate position because you do actually have the money

does he have a pension? Do you?

You said,
"But there's no way we can pay this off without remortgaging. Savings are all gone. I can't turn to family. My elderly mum needs her savings and my sister has always appeared to be resentful of me it would appear."

So it looks like you have considered and ruled them out. I am deeply skeptical that you didn't also consider that 3 people do not need an 8 bed house....the only option is to remortgage? Any numpty can see you have options.

I thought the same but didn’t want to say this. I think it’s now it won’t pay within a time limit to stop people taking out insurance and then ending their life.

No agreed the accountants aren’t responsible but I’m surprised they didn’t pick it up earlier. No accountant wants to be connected with tax evasion

I'm not sure OP has full story so which tax it is could be wrong

in terms of the company - HMRC can block liquidation so it may still exist

ETA the VAT man is definitely the most brutal!!

Your accountant doesn’t ensure you pay the tax. They can help you calculate it.

Op said it’s income tax but I wondered if it’s VAT too. Although they probably would’ve made him bankrupt by now 😭

No but it happened to my ex husband

There’s no detail here - if he’s not been paying corporation tax he would be barred from winding the company up and there would be a risk of worse consequences if the money isn’t paid

or is it VAT or employment taxes? Has he been paying the OP when she hasn’t actually done anything

he hasn’t forgotten to pay tax. This is tax evasion of the stupidest kind and it would be far better for him to accept he has to pay it rather than go down the ‘it’s a limited company’ route

i do wonder what your accountants have been doing and how long they’ve been involved

This has all been covered previously in the thread and it’s also clear what the situation with OPs husband was

I think you’re being naive. Someone sticking their wife on CH as co sec is very normal. As I said, often your accountant goes on- they’re not taking minutes at the board meeting 😂

no one checks or enforces that co secs are doing this, I doubt most do.

Sole traders are personally liable for any debt. If its a limited company the liability is limited.