including all our debtors

[design]

HI, Do we have to include all our debtors in an IVA, I.e our Accountants etc.

[steve532]

Hi design.
You have to include ALL unsecured debt.
if you put more info about your debt and disposable income on here. im sure one of the experts will advise you more

steve

[MelanieGiles]

Good advice from Steve - if you have an accountant you may also be self-employed, so business debts as well as personal debts must also be included.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[neverending]

and income tax liabilities
Regards

[design]

HI Guys & many thanks for your very quick response, I think I have come to right place for the help & information we need.
If I may give a little more detail as to our plight:
We have a small business (My partner is a sole trader & I am an employee of her company)
Trading now for 42 months in which time we have learnt a lot! It has been tough with many highs & lows as the self employed reading this will understand. In the last 6 months we have had rather a torrent time & things have become very tough going. The business is now in a better trading position & we feel we have turned the corner to a brighter future, But!

We have missed payments of PAYE & VAT quarters, we also have credit card debts which were used to start the business, a bank loan of £15,000 (£12,300 balance) & £10,000 overdraft facility (which we are always a the very top of)
Neither of us have any assets, we rent our home & the bank has said they can help no more.

As I mentioned earlier the business is now in a better position but we can not survive with all of the debt repayments that we have to make.
We have previously had payment plans with HM CUSTOMS & EXCISE but have now exhausted there goodwill.
So to recap we have the following unsecured major debtors:
Bank Loan: £12,300
Bank overdraft: £10,000
VAT Liability debt; £12,000
PAYE Liability: £ 5,000
Credit card debt 1: £ 5,000
Credit card debt 2: £ 5,000
Other unsecured debtors (family & business debtors)
£15,000

The above are not exact figures but give you an idea of our situation.
Our turnover for 2006/2007 will be approximately £120,000 & we envisage close to £150,000 for 2007/2008.

I would welcome any feedback. Particularly on the topic of HM Customs & excise position on IVA’S and there acceptance levels if known.

Once again thanks to you all for your previous replies.

[MelanieGiles]

Hi design

Firstly you need to look at the options available to you - I am assuming all of the debts are in your partners name? Could you clarify this please.

If your partner is to enter bankruptcy proceedings, there is a risk that she might lost the business. What does the business actually do? After 42 months of hard work, that would be a shame, and you would have to consider the implications of having no employment and then being required to look for jobs. Also if she has assets such as a property, these could be taken from her. In my experience most self-employed people who believe that their business has a future would rather try and save something that risk losing it and having to start again.

Assuming that you may discount bankruptcy proceedings for the following reasons, you are then left with the option of either an IVA or a debt management programmee. An IVA will run for 5 years, interest will be frozen and the balance of your debts is formally written off at the end. A DMP lasts until you have paid off the creditors in full - this coule be considerably longer than 5 years, as your creditors will probably continue to charge interest - and during the period of the programme you will have not have any legal protection against creditors taking action against you.

In deciding upon whether either of these routes are sensible options for you, you will have to calculate what you can afford to offer creditors - either from the realisation of assets, paying monthly contributions or a combination of both. To do this, your partner will need to prepare a forward cashflow projection to see what profits can be generated - a good insolvency practitioner can help you with this.

If you do decided to try an IVA, make sure that you choose an IP who specialises in dealing with self-employed cases and who has a good relationship with HM Revenue & Customs. They have a specialist enforcement unit down at Worthing, and are very commercial decision makers, so the proposal will have to be very thoroughly researched and presented to meet their high standards. Having said that they are not ogres - I deal with them on a regular basis.

I am sure that you will have many more questions, so do not hesitate to keep posting and I will see if I can help.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk