Repayment of VAT to Revenue

I owe revenue about €25000. Now the thing is is that I do not have this money and I have been out of work for the last few months. I know it was stupid of me not to keep account of this money so please no posts re this. I really want to be revenue compliant.

My question is: when I submit my return can I call them up and make an arrangement to pay them month by month. Can I go to jail for this or would they be willing to accept payments each month. I am so scared and stressed out re this situation and I would appreciate any advise or someone to point me in the right direction.

I am no longer self employed and am starting a new PAYE position within the next 3 weeks, so I will now be in a financial position to pay this on a monthly basis.

Please can someone give me advice on how to approach this with revenue as I really do not want to end up in serious trouble.

Thank you for reading.

If you contact the Revenue direct and offer to come to an arrangement regarding a payment plan I can't see a problem with them accepting it. I would strongly recommend that you make a reasonable offer i.e. not a derisory offer of €40 per month per say on a debt of €25k - it would have to be at least €500 per month to keep them from the courts at least! I would say with a strong amount of conviction that you would not go to prison, a judge would not agree to a conviction order if it was seen that you made a reasonable offer and it was within your means. Have you considered getting an appointment with MABS??? I cannot recommend them highly enough, they are one of the best organisations I have come across and will go through all your finances with you and work out a weekly/monthly budget and help you calculate what you can actually afford to pay back. A bonus to their services is that they will liason on your behalf with such organisations such as the Revenue or Sheriffs office. Get in touch with them ASAP - they could help you more than you realise and I am sure plenty of people out there could recommend them from personal experience.

I hope it all works out for you.

You need professional advice! You would be mad to approach Revenue directly about dealing with this sort of liability without it.

Both of the previous replies are offering good advice, just ensure you act on it immediately as if case goes to sheriff they are less likely to come to a repayment arrangement and you will also have additional penalties, interest and sheriffs fees to pay. If case is still with Revenue you will be in a better position to make a repayment plan with them. Would you be in a position to get a credit union loan and then you would be in a better bargaining position with Revenue in order to come to a settlement figure i.e not pay them back the full amount. Revenue's interest rates are quite high, and this will continue to mount up until debt is paid.

I could pay between 500 - 1000 a month. Do you really think that I should employ someone to negiotiate on my behalf? To save money could I not do this myself?

Will having this debt cause me to have a bad credit rating even if I am paying this off each month?

I have not submitted my return as of today, so at the moment they are not aware I owe. Does this mean that when I do the return straight away interest and penalties will start to accumulate?

Thank you.

taxquery said:

I have not submitted my return as of today, so at the moment they are not aware I owe. Does this mean that when I do the return straight away interest and penalties will start to accumulate?

Thank you.

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If you are charged interest and penalties, they will accrue from the date the taxes should have been paid, regardless of when you submit your return. So you will be in no worse position submitting your return sooner rather than later. As to getting someone to help you, I don't believe that MABS costs anything. Worth checking out - once you get control over this issue, you'll feel much better about things.

Sprite

Just two lines of advice: 1) It's easier to come to a deal with Revenue than the Sheriff, come in low but realistic and work from there.
2) If you are worried about your Credit Rating check position with mabs before engaging their services, I know if they negotiate ordinary loans etc it affects your rating.

I could pay between 500 - 1000 a month. Do you really think that I should employ someone to negiotiate on my behalf? To save money could I not do this myself?

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Definitely employ someone to negotiate this, preferably someone with a good bit of experience of dealing with the revenue. The revenue are ruthless and will slap on huge interest and penalties. You may end up with visits from the county sheriff if you try dealing with it yourself.

I have not submitted my return as of today, so at the moment they are not aware I owe. Does this mean that when I do the return straight away interest and penalties will start to accumulate?

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As soon as you submit a return for €25k, the red flags will be raised in Sarsfield house. I would do nothing until you have consulted with an accountant. For example, it might be better to arrange a loan from a bank and pay it off all at once, than try to come to an arrangement with the revenue.

the accountant has already prepared accounts and done his work. So it is up to me to submit. Now I am really scared. I suppose I will have to get a tax professional to talk to revenue on my behalf.

Who is the county sheriff? Why would he/she come after me if ~I have negioated with revenue?

Now I am really scared.

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There's no need to get scared! - just be careful how you approach the situation to minimise how much you have to pay.
We've been in similar situations, in the dark days before we used software. Our accountant used to liaise with the revenue. Just 'doing the accounts' wasn't what we were employing them for. I'm surprised your accountant hasn't advised you as to the best approach. (Which might be not talking to the revenue, and just getting a bank loan and paying the whole lot to revenue all at once, hoping for the best...)

It is the revenue sheriff you need to worry about. The revenue sheriff makes the county sheriff look like Mary Poppins.