Time-to-pay arrangements top £4.3bn

The taxman’s olive branch to struggling companies as they battle to survive
the recession has topped £4.3bn in deferred tax payments.

As of 20 December last year, the Business Payment Support Service had
approved more than 249,700 time to pay arrangements totalling £4.37bn, HMRevenue
& Customs said.

£3.33bn has been repaid, leaving £1.04bn outstanding, an HMRC spokeswoman
confirmed.

The BPSS has been available to all businesses, including partnerships since
it started in November 2008.

About 60% of the arrangements are for periods of three months and below.

HMRC has recently made some internal changes in how it gathers information
from people in large partnerships. This will make it easier for
companies-including acountancy practices- to make joint applications for
partners.

“HMRC have always adopted a sympathetic approach and TTP has always been an
option to those experiencing temporary financial difficulty who contact HMRC
with realistic proposals to pay off their tax debts over a relatively short
period,” the spokeswoman added.

“If individuals or businesses can’t pay what they owe the most important
thing is to contact HMRC straight away – things never get better by being left
or when HMRC notices to pay are ignored. The sooner people contact us the sooner
we can begin working with them to find a solution.”

Further reading:

Visit
the BPSS website

Taxman
holds firm after rise in time-to-pay arrangements

Half
of all deferred business taxes are VAT