Bankruptcy bills

A long-time builder client of ours was bankrupted by HMRC in November 2010.

I am again nonplussed by the conflicting paperwork requirements of HMRC and the Official Receiver (OR).

The OR requires ‘all accounting or other records relating to the personal or business affairs of the insolvent other than your firm’s own papers’.

HMRC require a 2010 tax return which I cannot prepare without those same ‘accounting and other records’!

Furthermore if I undertake the accounts preparation I incur substantial costs with no expectation of a fee to establish a tax bill that will not be paid.

If I do not prepare the relevant accounts and tax return a penalty notice is issued and an aggravating sequence of futile letters and phone calls will probably follow.

The cynic in me asks whether HMRC are just trying to quantify their losses. Certainly I am at...