I’m a pensioner, but Revenue demanded £14k corporation tax

N.M. writes: I am sending you a letter from Revenue & Customs, delivered by hand to my home while I was on holiday. The letter demands more than £14,000 in corporation tax. My initial reaction was this was a hoax as the letter is addressed to a limited company and not to me. But the Revenue confirmed it is genuine and says it has information that the company’s director resided at my address. I CAN understand your concern. The letter is not just a demand for more than £14,000. It is headed: ‘Warning of enforcement action.’ It begins: ‘I called today to collect payment of the above amount or to determine your assets for sale at auction.’

Not unreasonably, you have been afraid that Revenue officials or bailiffs will now turn up on your doorstep and try to seize your furniture, car and any personal belongings that could be sold to cover the tax bill.

Yet you have lived at the same address since 2004, you are 70 years old and retired and you have never heard of the construction company named in the Revenue’s demand. There is also the small legal point that an individual should not be pursued for the debts of a limited company.

It took me around ten minutes to cross-check Companies House records and the electoral register. I found the real address of the director whose company owes all this money.

I asked staff at Revenue headquarters to see whether anyone misused your address and nobody has. Rather, it was a clerical error by tax office staff. Your address has now been removed from its records and you have received an official apology.