morethanyoubargainfor husband has a question if you please!

[morethanyoubargainfor]

It is that time of year again of paying the tax bill! (oh the joys of being self employed).

His bill however is alot larger than expected and there isn't quite enough to meet it, so here is the question;

should he take out a loan to pay the outstanding (around 6k) or

should he just pay the fines/interest and owe the HMRC?

It is up to the mumsnet jury to decide.

Can't he negotiate a repayment plan with them?

can you do that? never heard about it before

I'm pretty sure you can. He should contact them and ask. It may depend upon the circumstances but I know people who have done it. He may possibly incur a penalty but may be far cheaper than the other option.

Best of luck

ok, thanks will tell him to look into that.

I used to work for HMRC and on the VAT side there are definately payment plans.
In repsonse to the OP, I would get a loan to pay it, the fines are horrific and by the day.

Get a loan, you don't want to be owing HMRC money!

loan rates are not particular good at the moment whereas HMRC are only 3% I believe. There is a fine of £100 if not paid by the end of February, but that is a one-off I believe. A loan would probably end up costing more in the long term wouldn't it?

that was written by DH BTW!

iirc the fine is 2% of the owed balance plus the fine of £100 for late payment, then they add interest on on a daily amount.

However it has been a long long time since I did anything to do with SA.

Yes, but you will be fined 5% on top of the orginal penalty in Feb and another 5% in July if you haven't paid.

It's worth calling them. Do you normally do payments on account?
You can ask about them, it basically means you can pay in 2 installments, one now and another in 6 months. it does depend on your circumstances but it can't hurt to ask.