Tax avoidance

[Misty8498]

I'm wondering if anyone can help my soon to be ex husband was with an umbrella company and HMRC caught him committing tax avoidance. It was 40k in 2021 and now increased to 80k does this sound right ? Also I don't understand how it's a rounded figure.
he wants me to pay half out of the marital home but was hoping for some advice would really be appreciated.

another question if I'm expected to pay half can I have access to his login details for HMRC the last statement he received was in 2023 and he did say it's hard to get paperwork of HMRC and his would he will flag everything up by asking ...

Yes correct

No nothing
could you please explain government portal?

That link won't open

It's so difficult I have spent over 20k on solicitors and got no where I financially can't afford it

"Government portal" is the gov.uk website.
He should be able to login (or register for a login for HMRC online services on there if he doesn't already have a login).
Once logged in, he should be able to see his personal tax liabilities, penalties and interest for each year.

I'm a lawyer but haven't worked in family and matrimonial since before I qualified, but I don't understand this at all.

I don't see how his own personal income tax affairs are part of your matrimonial assets, and how this would cause him to have a claim on your half of the assets. Yes, he'd obviously need to use his own % of the divorce assets to pay his bill... but I don't see how he could claim
Against your assets to fund it. If the bill is for his own tax liability then that's an issue for him, not a tax liability for you both as a couple.

I guess he would argue that the tax he should paid was marital funds (she benefited from the extra income too) so the debt is a marital debt too?

Yes exactly what his saying 🤷‍♀️

You are not liable for fraud that he has committed. Were you a director of the company?

If he is telling you he is being prosecuted for tax avoidance he is lying. He needs to produce written evidence of everything. As pp have said, tax avoidance is legal, so perhaps he is trying to bamboozle you into paying him money.
In any event, HMRC would write to you if you owed them anything. You can contact them yourself and ask them if there are any issues with regard to your tax returns or any outstanding charges.

No nothing my solicitor didn't make me feel very confident

He has shown me letters from HMRC. My name isn't on anything so I'm not able to speak to them or can I if so how

You can speak to HMRC about your own tax affairs and verify that you personally don't owe anything.

This is so confusing. How did he get into this mess? This must be super stressful.

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Did you have a joint account? if it was a genuine error, and you did benefit in part from the earnings then there’s a case to say that the joint marital finances are perhaps liable over that period. You could assess where that benefit was (example: paying mortgage or bills or whatever) and the value of the unpaid tax against those specific contributions. This could then be deducted from the equity. In this instance you could take into account proportionally what your contributions were from your earnings.

Equally you could state that his tax is his responsibility and he should sort his shit out.

HMRC do get rather cross with people who don’t cooperate and love a penalty fine. No doubt that all penalties should be wholly his responsibility.

That said, was he financially controlling during the marriage? It all smells a bit iffy. HMRC tend not to like a round number so alarm bells are ringing.

Have you asked an accountant? That would be my first call rather than a solicitor.

I would ask to see his accountant & take copies of all paperwork. You are in no way liable for his tax bill, it was him who incorrectly filled out his Self Assessment return, just as if he had received a big refund after you had split up you wouldn't expect him to share it with you. Once you have all the paperwork, I would then find yourself another solicitor & instruct them to represent you for your financial settlement negotiations.

Did you ever sign things without knowing what you were signing?

What’s the returned amount versus revised amount?

Whilst that is true, most people use tax avoidance and tax evasion as synonyms because they sound similar and if you’re not in the business you won’t be aware of the difference. So both the OP and STBExH might well have incorrectly used the word avoidance.

Do you fill in your own tax returns OP? It sounds as if you have no idea of his income and outgoings.
Did you work in, or take a salary from, his company?
As a pp mentioned, did you ever sign anything without reading it?

I think you should contact Women's Aid. If he owes all this tax and you have no money it sounds as if you have been subjected to financial control, possibly abuse.
I don't know if Citizen's Advice exists any more, but there are debt counselling charities such as Step Change that might be able to offer advice.
I am guessing he cleared out all his paperwork before you could find it.
Have you looked him up on Companies House? All his previous and existing companies will be on there together with significant people such as secretary and directors.
Capital gains is payable on returns from investments. Does he have property or shares in anything?
If you work you presumably do your own tax returns?

I really don't know what to do I'm not the most educated.
yea their wasn't much paperwork left .
yes I've looked on companies house business has been closed .
yes we have sold the property that's what he wants the tax avoidance to come out off .
I just don't want to go to court which would cost 40k each
nor start all over again with a solicitor I just don't have the funds

He is lying to you. He absolutely does have every single bit of paperwork. HMRC go to enormous lengths to recover unpaid tax and that means sending lots of letters.
Talk to Women's Aid.
You haven't answered whether you are employed and pay your own income tax. Obviously you don't have to share that on here, but it is a significant factor in all of this.
Even if his company is closed, the information about directors etc should still be on there.
If you are named as a partner/ employee, or if you were a share holder he should have been paying you wages or dividends.
If he was using your tax allowance to offset his tax that should be recorded.
If you have been working and paying your own tax you should be able to speak to your own tax office using your own NI and tax number.