HMRC claim I owe £15000 in tax, but lived in the UK for 11 months

[gimli1985]

Hi there,

 

Help! Scary letter arrived in the post HMRC Debt Management telling me that there was a judgement passed against me to pay tax immediately as well as court costs. I have only lived in the UK for 11 months and have yet to submit my first Self-assessment.

 

Background:

- Moved to the UK from South Africa in Feb 2014 started my own limited company

- In 2007 I flew from South Africa to Isle of Man where I did temp work for one month before returning to South Africa.

- Used my Isle of Man NINO to register my company however the VAT office would not accept that NINO. So my accountant queried it and was informed by National Insurance office of my UK NINO. Different from my IoM NINO.

- Registered successfully for VAT and then applied for UTR with my newly found NINO. To date I have not received response about my application.

- Shortly after apply for UTR the National Insurance sent me a letter asking for Self-employed Class 2 contribution. BUT I am not self-employed. I am a director of a Limited Company. Big difference. Key to note here too, after opening the letter I noticed that my middle name was wrong too! Letter sent saying I am not self-employed and have only worked in the UK less than a year and also that is not my name. No response yet.

- Second letter this time from HMRC saying they have Self-Assessment statement for £15000 against my NINO number. They also included a reference number I am assuming they think is my UTR number. I think not because again my middle name on the letter is wrong. Phone call and a letter sent to them saying this is not me but this is my NINO number. The lady at HMRC had no idea what is wrong. I have a letter saying it is being reviewed by their technical team.

- Which brings me to the scary letter from Debt Management saying there was a court case against me and judgement made to pay tax and court fees from 2010. I was not in the country. I was blowing vuvuzela in a stadium in Johannesburg never thinking I would move to Blighty! I have never live in this country before 2014.

- Phoned the Debt Management and they swear blind that I owe this money but ask me if I work in construction as self-employed. I am an IT consultant. They asked if I lived at and address in Somerset. Where is that I say! They asked if my partner was a Mr Goodman. Never heard of him.

 

I have sent letters to National Insurance Office, HMRC SA and Debt Management. I have still not got my own UTR as they fail to respond so I will be missing my first Self-assessment deadline on the 31st of January.

 

The UK's HMRC is pathetic. South Africa's revenue authority is amazing and makes HMRC look like a badly run Zoo.

 

Vent over. Any advice folks? Restore my hope in the good nation of Great Britain.

 

Regards

Edited January 23, 2015 by gimli1985
spelling and grammar

[aburobert]

You will need to contact the court where the judgment was obtained and get a copy.

 

If you can prove you were out of the UK when this was processed you should apply for a 'set aside' on that basis.

 

I'm sure someone with far more knowledge will be along with further assistance and advice.