Owing the VAT- Man Money-Bancruptcy or Reposession or Jail ????????

[whooosh]

One of my closest friends is in a relationship with a complye tw*t.ANyway,to cut a long story short he is self employed and has (through necessity really tbh)spent all he has earned in stead of putting the VAT "aside" to pay when due.
Well,'tis now overdue-he owes £10k currently but there will be another £5k due in 3 months.

My friend is worried he will go to jail,I am worried they will have their home re-posessed and just want to help.

They have more than their fair share of bad luck including a stillborn dd 3yrs ago and two other close family members dying they now have two dd's aged 8 and 8mts.

They have sent a solicitor's letter to revenue and customs explaining the house is on the market to generate sufficient funds to pay and the estate agent confirms this.However,if it doesn't sell,or sell for what they need (fairly unlikely)what will happen?

Has anybody got any experience or advice??

Please....

In my experience, HMRC can be quite helpful. If they call or write and explain what is going on, they don't have the money now but want to set up a repayment plan, say £1000 a month, that should sort out the problem. They are not as bad and scary as people think.

HTH

Second MelT76 - get them to speak to HMRC.

As with anyone you owe money to: keep talking, negotiate, make reasonable offers to pay in installments (make sure they are payments you can manage). All companies and organisations would prefer payment in installments to all the hassle of court action - because sending people to jail costs them and doesn't actually get them the money, which is what they really want. (if you are in jail you can't exactly earn the money to pay your debt...)

Thank you for this-it is what I have told her so far.They are proving to HMRC that they are trying to raise the money and I really hope a payment plan will suffice.