Taxman waiting for £286m

HM Revenue & Customs is waiting on £286m in corporate taxes as the Business Payment Support Service scheme comes into play, essentially allowing companies to delay their tax bill.

Over 16,000 IT firms have accepted the tax-man's offer to defer payment of their taxes in comparison to 14,300 financial firms statistics Contractor UK reported.

There are 16,930 IT companies which have taken up the offer totally more than tourism, charity and transport combined.

Tony Harris, an independent financial advisor to IT companies said: “[It] could be that companies in IT may just be better run and better advised than those in other industries…because I can’t think of any reason why a firm would not take advantage of this scheme if eligible."

Adding: "It has to make sense for any business to defer payments to the taxman and instead use the money to make a short term repayment of potentially far more costly alternative forms of borrowing, such as an overdraft."

Although the scheme can be used by many, HMRC is hoping to take a tougher line with companies seeking to defer tax payments more than once.

A spokesman said: “Where businesses ask HMRC for a further rescheduling of tax payments, it is correct that they would be asked additional questions."

“HMRC has a duty in these circumstances to find out what other steps a business has taken to arrange for payment of all its debts,” he added.

Further reading:

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