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HM Revenue & Customs is targeting the medical profession; encouraging doctors and dentists to declare all their income or face tougher penalties.
If you work as a doctor, consultant or dentist and you’ve bumped up your expenses or failed to declare all your income, you’re being given a chance to come clean about any tax you owe in return for a reduced penalty. The idea behind HM Revenue & Customs' amnesty to doctors and dentists is that you tell them about undeclared income etc by the end of March. If pay any tax you owe by the end of June, you’ll only be charged a penalty of 10% of the tax you owe (compared to a maximum penalty of 100% that HMRC can impose if it finds out you’ve lied about your income).
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If you’ve got a problem and you’d like some advice, why not contact a money expert?
Whether you want to find out how to get the best mortgage, are worried about your debts, have an elderly parent who needs care or don’t see eye-to-eye with your partner over money, one of SavvyWoman’s panel of experts can help.
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Top Tips : Although we talk about 'unsecured debt' you might not realise that if you get into arrears with credit card debts or personal loans, your lender could take a chunk of the proceeds of your house sale and - ultimately - force the sale of your home.
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Many of us take out credit cards or personal loans without knowing exactly what could happen if we were to get behind with our payments. Although they're sold as 'easy credit' lenders can put a charge against your home (something I bet they don't point out when you sign up).
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Debt advisers have seen a sharp increase in the number of so-called 'charging orders' (where personal loans and debts are secured against the value of the home). In 2000 there were fewer than 20,000 applications for charging orders made, but by 2008 that figure had shot up to around 165,000.
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If you get into arrears over credit card debts or a bank loan and you're threatened with a charging order, don't ignore it. Take advice from a debt advice charity (such as CCCS or National Debtline).
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Although it's extremely unlikely that you would lose your home (last year there were several hundred forced sales of houses due to personal lending arrears), over 70% of applications for charging orders are granted.
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The government is concerned that some lenders are forcing the sale of properties when debts are relatively small. It is proposing that there should be a minimum threshold that would mean a lender couldn't force the sale of your home if the debt was less than £5,000 - £10,000.
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