My Employer did not pay my NI

[rushdriver]

I have just found out that a company that I worked for did not pay my national insurance even though it clearly states on my payslip's that they have deducted this from my salary.

I have contacted a few of the ex-employees of the company and they are in the same boat.

Am I going to be personally liable for the money that they owe the tax man and what can I do to get the comapny to settle the money that they owe (I no longer work for them)?

Cheers

John

[burblev8]

Your employer is liable but they have to be able to find him...if not they do come after the next best target.

However if you have payslips with Ni on them he has committed tax fraud and is for the high jump - act fast!

[rushdriver]

burblev8 said:

Your employer is liable but they have to be able to find him...if not they do come after the next best target. However if you have payslips with Ni on them he has committed tax fraud and is for the high jump - act fast!

They are still in business and I know exactly where their office's are so that shouldn't be a problem. I also know that they don't have the money to pay it all back (I have estimated that the owe well over £100K) so I wonder what will happen to them, any ideas?

John

[Size Nine Elm]

rushdriver said:

burblev8 said: Your employer is liable but they have to be able to find him...if not they do come after the next best target. However if you have payslips with Ni on them he has committed tax fraud and is for the high jump - act fast! They are still in business and I know exactly where their office's are so that shouldn't be a problem. I also know that they don't have the money to pay it all back (I have estimated that the owe well over £100K) so I wonder what will happen to them, any ideas? John

If they are £100k in debt to the taxman, but still in business, then not only have the directors committed tax fraud, they may also be guilty of trading insolvently.

[rushdriver]

Size Nine Elm said:

rushdriver said: burblev8 said: Your employer is liable but they have to be able to find him...if not they do come after the next best target. However if you have payslips with Ni on them he has committed tax fraud and is for the high jump - act fast! They are still in business and I know exactly where their office's are so that shouldn't be a problem. I also know that they don't have the money to pay it all back (I have estimated that the owe well over £100K) so I wonder what will happen to them, any ideas? John If they are £100k in debt to the taxman, but still in business, then not only have the directors committed tax fraud, they may also be guilty of trading insolvently.

I just worry that I might be liable for my NI contributions, I suppose that becasue my payslips state that I have payed it then it's down to the directors.

I hope that they get taken to the bloody cleaners!

John

[Size Nine Elm]

rushdriver said:

I just worry that I might be liable for my NI contributions, I suppose that becasue my payslips state that I have payed it then it's down to the directors. I hope that they get taken to the bloody cleaners! John

Certainly should be no liability on you. The employer deducts the NI from your salary as PAYE, so you've never had it, and from that point onwards they have a liability to the taxman, which under PAYE should be paid the following month.

If the company is liquidated because it cannot trade solvently, the taxmam is fairly high up the list of creditors... I guess your NI contribution is accounted for as paid... need to look up insolvency details for that (Eric?)

[rushdriver]

Size Nine Elm said:

rushdriver said: I just worry that I might be liable for my NI contributions, I suppose that becasue my payslips state that I have payed it then it's down to the directors. I hope that they get taken to the bloody cleaners! John Certainly should be no liability on you. The employer deducts the NI from your salary as PAYE, so you've never had it, and from that point onwards they have a liability to the taxman, which under PAYE should be paid the following month. If the company is liquidated because it cannot trade solvently, the taxmam is fairly high up the list of creditors... I guess your NI contribution is accounted for as paid... need to look up insolvency details for that (Eric?)

Size Nine,

That's good to hear about the lack of liability on my part. They are less than a 'normal' company. I know that they owe alot of money on PAYE and the NI thing has only just come to light. There is only 1 director and a company secretary, I just hope that they can't hide behind the ltd liability of the company, the reason I am feeling like this is that they owe me several £k that I have written off in my mind and I would like to see some justice done.

Thanks for you help

John

[plasticpig]

Have you had a letter from the Inland Revenue about NI contributions?

If so you need to fill out the following form:

www.hmrc.gov.uk/pdfs/rd1299a.pdf

If not then you need to ring your local tax office and tell them about it. A list of offices and telephone numbers is on the website given above. You should not be liable for the contributions as you have paid them.

Unfourtunately your situation is not all that rare. It happend to me a long time ago. The Inland Revenue are somewhat more lax than Customs & Excise in collection so if its a choice between paying the VAT or paying Inland Revenue a company in trouble will pay Customs & Excise. Now they are combining to be HM Revenue and Customs hopefully things will change for the better.

[rushdriver]

plasticpig said:

Have you had a letter from the Inland Revenue about NI contributions? If so you need to fill out the following form: www.hmrc.gov.uk/pdfs/rd1299a.pdf If not then you need to ring your local tax office and tell them about it. A list of offices and telephone numbers is on the website given above. You should not be liable for the contributions as you have paid them. Unfourtunately your situation is not all that rare. It happend to me a long time ago. The Inland Revenue are somewhat more lax than Customs & Excise in collection so if its a choice between paying the VAT or paying Inland Revenue a company in trouble will pay Customs & Excise. Now they are combining to be HM Revenue and Customs hopefully things will change for the better. Plastic, An ex colleague of mine found out and the he told me and it has kinda snowballed from there really. My intial reaction was that I might be liable for the money (similar to PAYE if you underpay even though it's no fault of your own) but by all accounts it's looking likely that the liability rests with the compaany, particully because my wage slips state that I have paid my NI cont. It's just typical of the company to be honest, they are a small struggling software company and it's owned by a techie who whilst is very clever is not the best business man in the world. Like I said earlier, they owe me £k so I hope that they get what they desrve really. John

[FrenchTVR]

Two years ago the company I was working for went into liquidation, owing the IR nearly £300k, a large chunk of which was our NI contributions that we had been dedeucted but the company had not paid in. We were all assured that we would not be held responsible as it clearly showed we, as individuals, had done our bit.

Hope this helps to re-assure you.

[rushdriver]

FrenchTVR said:

Two years ago the company I was working for went into liquidation, owing the IR nearly £300k, a large chunk of which was our NI contributions that we had been dedeucted but the company had not paid in. We were all assured that we would not be held responsible as it clearly showed we, as individuals, had done our bit. Hope this helps to re-assure you.

French,

Thanks for the post, I am feeling better reading all of this!

Cheers

John

[Kinky]

John,

As suggested above - even though there is no liability on your behalf directly - I would still go to the IR and explain the situation to them - and do it all in writing, so butt is covered, etc, etc ....

K

[Eric Mc]

Also, you should ensure that your NI record is not treated as "unbroken" for the period your employer has failed to pay the NI. You should still get proper credit for those missing contributions.

How did you find this out?

HM Customs and Excise no longer officially exists by the way. They were absorbed into the Inland Revenue in April 2005. The "new" government agency is now called HM Revenue and Customs.