Tax Alert - Business Payment Support Service

January 2009

This notice sets out details of a new initiative from H M Revenue & Customs called the Business Payment Support Service.

This is a new service for businesses in temporary financial difficulty and unable to pay their tax bills. It covers all taxes paid by businesses, including corporation tax, VAT, PAYE, income tax and National Insurance Contributions.

What the service provides is the ability to spread payment of tax bills over a timetable your business can afford. Full details are on www.hmrc.gov.uk and there is a dedicated phone service to agree arrangements tailored to business needs (Tel 0845 302 1435). The website states that in many cases it will be possible to get an answer from HMRC regarding an agreement to pay, within 10 minutes!

HMRC will expect you to have the following information to hand:

your tax reference number
details of the tax that you are, or will have trouble paying
basic details of your businesses income and outgoings.

The advantage of agreeing payment terms is that late payment surcharges will not be levied on amounts included in the arrangement. However, interest will continue to apply from the original due date.

If you have already been contacted about an overdue payment you should call the original office that contacted you to discuss payment arrangement options.

If you already have payment arrangements with HMRC but still have concerns about being able to pay, the HMRC office you have been dealing with will be able to discuss further options with you.