passport renewal with unpaid tax

I left the UK about nine years ago and am now resident in the US. Before leaving I was self-employed and for the last year of self-employment filed a tax return but for complex reasons never made payment of this tax.

My UK passport is about to expire and I am wondering whether applying to renew it (in the US) will result in either a) the renewal being denied because of outstanding unpaid tax, b) the Inland Revenue being alerted to my present location and commencing recovery proceedings for these monies, or c) both.

Would it be advisable to wait until I become a naturalized US citizen in a couple of years and then simply apply for a US passport? As a resident, I do not need a passport unless I intend to travel (which I do not).

The sum involved is not large (around GBP 6,000 if I recall) and dates back around ten years. I have however heard that the IR are now raking over cases much older than the normal six year limit in order to reclaim large amounts of unpaid taxes.

Can anyone offer any advice?

Well, you've got no legitimate reason for not paying, have you, so pay. Then ask about the passport.

expat360 ( snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

"complex reasons"? How complex can "I think I'm special, so shouldn't have to pay tax" be?

We can only hope so.

Good-oh.

Yes. Pay your bloody tax bill, you skiving git. We all have to. Why are you special?

Where did you hear that then?

The six year limit is for small scale honest mistakes. There never was a limit for chasing out-and-out criminals, so there's no change here.

Yes and yes.

The Revenue and Customs, as they are now known, can still pursue you in the USA. It makes no difference what nationality you are.

The original sum will have grown by interest and penalties.

Pay up before the debt gets any larger.

Peter Crosland

"complex reasons"? How complex can "I think I'm special, so shouldn't have to pay tax" be?

How about "hospitalized and unable to work for over a year", before you rush to judgement?

expat360 wrote

I could ask a friend who works for the I.R. If you like. She would be happy to follow it up for you!

expat360 ( snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Ten years, and that's the best you can come up with? Lemme guess, it took you five years to come up with "the dog ate the cheque"...

You managed to fill the form in in time. That's the difficult, time consuming and tedious bit compared to writing the cheque. Still, I'm sure a quick phone call to the IR to explain the situation would have been met with sympathy. At the time. Ten years ago.

And there I was thinking that 'woke up in hospital with complete tax amnesia' only happened in movies.

"expat360" wrote

Find an accommodation address in the UK and renew it from there.

I can only offer experience rathere than advice. I had to renew my passport in Europe as a result of the previous one being stolen (interestingly enough I managed to travel from Scandinavia to Holland without any ID whatsoever).

But the renewal took about 5 days and there was nothing to do with the IR to whom I did not owe money to but they were chasing me for unfilled tax forms - since I was not living in the UK I tossed them in the bin.

Just go and get a new passport... you cannot be stopped coming into the UK and the local consulate will not dig up tax details.

Axel

How?

Axel

There's nothing other than your name to link your passport with any records the Inland Revenue may have on you, so renewing a passport is unlikely to have any other consequences. Presumably you are intending to renew the passport at a British embassy or consulate in the US. If this is the case, then the passport will be issued locally rather than in the UK, so there's even less likelihood of a connection being made.

Because of government cutbacks, consular staff have enough on their plates just to cope with their existing workloads without having to plough through lists of names of people who might not have paid some tax due many years ago.

Chris

Yes, pay your tax bill. I have to pay my tax bill every month just because you've moved country you think you don't have to pay?

But then do not you have to provide supplementary evidence of your address eg utility bill, bank statement, etc. At least one of the overseas British Embassies requires this when obtaining a passport from them.

I suggest you repost to uk.legal.moderated. Otherwise you will get the moron brigade attacking you for not paying the tax rather than answering your question, which they wouldn't have the wit to do anyway.

Out of interest might it not be a criminal offense for some posters (I'm thinking of those who have qualifications in accountancy or law) to assist the poster by answering his original question rather than pointing out that deliberate evasion of UK tax is illegal and he ought to pay up? It would certainly be professional misconduct under most professional codes I know of ...

Thom

Erm, throught the coursts, either getting a UK judgement confirmed in teh US or in the US courts. Happens all the time. The only place you might be safe these days is somewhere like Iran.