Evicted tenant with no savings but £5k pm consultancy work?

Reply to the comment left by John at 11/02/2020 - 16:55
Then she is either a Ltd Co director working as a consultant for a charity (and therefore PAYE, although probably taking most of it as dividends) or a self-employed consultant - but I bet she has a car and a TV. If it's a Ltd Co scenario you can get your own back, but not your money, by reporting her to HMRC, saying she is a disguised employee under IR35.

Kathy,
I am 99% sure that she is just a freelancer consultant getting paid cash & expenses. She is Irish working for a friendly Irish charity in London
Regards
John

Reply to the comment left by John at 11/02/2020 - 17:29
There's no such legal entity as "a freelance consultant". You are either an employee/director of a Ltd Co (aka personal service company) and must be paid on Schedule E (plus dividends). These are the ones you can report under IR35 if they have only the one client. You can report the charity to HMRC and the Home Office if you think they haven't done their right to work checks (like our right to rent checks) and is are paying in cash. If earning that much and not an employee, must be VAT registered also, so there's another way to make life a misery. Or Self-employed/sole trader, paid/paying tax under schedule D. Or you are a tax dodger and should be reported and imprisoned (no charity would risk it). If self-employed and HMRC thinks they are really employees of their client, the client has to pay the extra tax and NI and the consultant just has to declare income on self assessment return. Will probably still have a car and TV and possibly jewellery and a watch that the bailiffs can take

Thanks Kathy,
You are focusing on the legalities of her work and how I can make her life a misery. I however am not trying to make her life a misery and am just looking for the best way to recoup all or some of the debt Also I dont want to try and put her employer out of business as this would make the situation worse as she would then be out of work.
I would like to know what the Bailiffs or Judge would treat the £5K a month she is earning on a freelance basis. Are they likely to force her to make monthly payments even though it is not a PAYE job?
Regards, John

Reply to the comment left by John at 11/02/2020 - 23:40
True, but if she is Ltd Co contractor she will be PAYE (from her own Company) so technically you could get wages stopped, but if she is foreign national (ie Irish) that might be more difficult unless Ltd Co is registered in England and Wales. I'd still try the bailiffs

Reply to the comment left by Kathy Evans at 12/02/2020 - 17:04
Thanks but she is Irish and not a Ltd Co, just an individual doing casual freelance work. Regards,
John

Reply to the comment left by John at 12/02/2020 - 21:19
John,

your are missing the point, there is no such thing as casual freelance work. She will either be paid via an umbrella company where they deduct the necessary tax & NI or she will be a director of her own Ltd company and invoices the charity for the work she does. No charity would pay over cash with out an invoice, they just wouldnt. Escalate the debt to the high court, instruct the high court sherriffs e.g DCBL, the one off can't pay we'll take it away and the cost associated with action will be added to the debt. They will collect by way of removing assets or by setting up a payment plan. She will have assets be it furniture/electronics and possible investments, just because she says she doesn't have them doesn't mean she hasn't. If that fails raise a bankruptcy petition against her, she will probably make some form of payment and possibly even set up a payment plan.

Reply to the comment left by SimonR at 26/02/2020 - 15:10
John
Simon R has urged you as I did some time ago to crack on with recovering your debt, outlining same approach as I did. I thought the thread had gone dead due to you having pressed on but it seems not. Your choice but for my curiosity just what is preventing you taking action? You sought help at outset about recovering your debt, duly received it yet you hesitate.

Thanks Andrew,
I am weighing up the various options and I see no hurry as I understand I have 6 years to claim the debt and each time period that passes means that the tenant has had more time to have made savings and secured a full time PAYE job.
My concern is that a debt agency can possess goods of value but she hasnt any car or goods of value. My only hope at this stage is that she will make monthly payments from her earnings , but can a Debt Collection Agency enforce that or must I go back to court?
Regards,
John

Reply to the comment left by John at 26/02/2020 - 21:05
Going off topic a bit, but, if it’s anything like the Child Support Agency, when they have proof what a person earns as a Limited company, few thousand per month, but they still only take £5 per month to contribute towards his child, because, he declares much less and has all these overheads to pay...

Then they leave the country and the Govt, quite rightly, sends him his £500per week Pension, but,
“have no intention of making a deduction to provide for his dependent child, left in the UK”...the letter reply from David Cameron...