Tax bill forces bankruptcy

Jim Davidson has been declared bankrupt after failing to keep up payments on a £1.4 million tax bill.

The 52-year-old comic said he had been struggling to meet tax payments of about £400,000 a year, on top of the cost of four ex-wives.

But he said HM Revenue & Customs refused to allow him a 12-month break from payments because he still owed £700,000.

He also asked if he could be let off the remaining £250,000 if he paid a final settlement of £450,000.

‘This is kind of a shock to me,’ Davidson told the BBC News website.

‘The tax man has, for reasons best known to himself, pulled the rug out from under my feet.  I am still pretty solvent. I just can't pay £700,000 right now.

‘I just needed a bit of leeway. The taxman has forced me into this position - that's why I feel angry rather than sad and disappointed.’

Davidson, who now lives in Dubai, had been touring the UK twice a year to try to repay the bill – but said he couldn’t sustain that.

‘You cannot keep going back to the same theatres,’ he said. ‘I don't want the tax man to put me in a position where my career looks as if it is failing, because it isn't.’

Published: 6 Jul 2006