www.iva.co.uk

Hi,

My IVA has been in closure since July 2011 - i've been told the hold up on the closure is due to the VAT issue with HMRC. I'm really concerned as my job could be at risk in the next month or so and my IVA supervisor has advised that should i get any redundancy this would go to my creditors even though i've completed all my repayments 6 months ago??!

Can you confirm this is definitely the case? And how long the issue with HMRC may take to resolve?

Any advise greatly appreciated!

Dave

Hi Dave and welcome.

I think this might be the case but of course you would be entitled to keep some to fund your normal monthly expenses while you seek further employment.

I have no idea how long this issue is going to take to be resolved unfortunately.

There seems to be discussion ongoing as to varying cases where a windfall occurs,after someone has finished making their monthly contributions but hasnt got a completion certificate due to the VAT issue(and clearly through no fault of their own).

Which company are you with??

Paul

The IVAs cannot be kept open indefinitely so you need to speak to your IP and find out how it can be justified to keep it open so long. The other issue is that the closure problem was not a problem in July so you could ask why it was not closed down after the last payment was made.

Hi Dave.hl - wecome to the forum. Melanie has a meeting coming up with the Counsel to look at the VAT issue and one of her questions she is tkaing to them is exactly on this issue - windfalls between finaly payment and formal closure. Watch this space.

Hi

This is exactly why having this hold up is so unfair. Someone in the same situation with a different IP may have had their case closed and any redundancy safe, you however may lose some or all of your redundancy if your IVA is not closed.

Someone somewhere needs to get this VAT issue sorted

Regards

If I had an IVA and completed the 60 payments as originally agreed, I would expect my IVA to close (No Excuses) if the industry is having a problem with VAT etc that would be a problem fro them and not me.

You have done what was asked of you, and anything you receive after the 60mts should be yours,I wouldn't pay them a penny to be honest. Good Luck, sometimes honesty doesn't pay.

Why is it so different in scotland where cases can be closed but ip's remain in office to conclude issues like vat and ppi,long after client discharge?

Paul

I have pretty much kept out of this debate but I do feel that some posters may be penalised through no fault of their own. There should be something the IP companies can do, in writing, to say that until these disputes are sorted, once the final payment is made then the debtor has fulfilled their obligation and there will be no claims made on any 'windfalls' after that date.

I'd take it to court because I agree its not fair if you've kept to your side of the bargain and its an admin error on their side.

Could be a big loop hole for the creditors to exploit!.

It wouldnt get to court in my opinion because you have entered into an agreement and until that agreement is ended you are due to repay your debt in full,and windfalls are clearly covered in proposals so until they start varying proposals then nothing untoward has happened. Very immoral yes but would be a waste of the courts time.

Interesting times ahead if HMRC dont get their fingers out and start sorting out refunds well in advance of closure dates.

This will rumble on and on.

Paul

It wouldn't get to court, I agree there. I still think that people who have fulfilled their obligations should be absolved from anything that happens to delay the closure that is beyond their control.

Totally agree Jan.

Paul

I think some sort of Substantive Completion should be proposed, to basically bring us in line with the Scottish take on this and close the IVA from the debtors perspective, whilst leaving the IP resposible for admin, once they are happy that all debtor obligations have been met ( which they should be able to determine within days of the last payment being made. )

Hi,

Thank you all for taking the time to reply to my initial request for advice.

I have to say that i immediately offered to pay the outstanding VAT in order to get my case closed - which is the whole reason for the IVA not being closed now - rather than keeping it open so that the creditors can have the added benefit of possibly getting their hands on a windfall.

I have to say that the new "law" or guideline was passed AFTER my IVA was in closure so i also think in my scenario (as i would) that only IVAs still "active" before the date of the new guideline should be allowed to be kept open.

Finally, i signed up for 5 years of re-payments (plus obviously 1 year for the IVA to come off my record.) If i knew at the time that the IVA would be kept open indefinitely AFTER i'd completed the payments, i probably would've just taken the bankrupcy option....

Dave