Taxman strikes back: We're still deferring businesses' tax
20 Jan 2010, Kevin Reed, AccountancyAge
http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/news/1787809/taxman-strikes-were-deferring-businesses-tax
The taxman has hit back at claims it is reining its business tax deferral support, revealing it agreed to defer £150m in payments over the Christmas period.
After some criticism from advisers that HM Revenue & Customs was winding down its 'time to pay' arrangements, it hit back today with figures that show it has deferred £4.52bn in tax payments since December 2008 – up to 10 January 2010.
HMRC had agreed £4.37bn by 20 December 2009, after the scheme begun a year earlier.
"A number of accountancy firms and financial advisers have suggested that HMRC’s commitment to supporting businesses is being reduced. Nothing could be further from the truth," said an HMRC spokeswoman in a statement.
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Visitor comments
yeah but no but yeah but no but
Nice spin from HMRC (after all how long were the 'deferrals' they agreed for, and how many did they turn down, and what percentages, and so on). The reality on the ground is that firms are finding it harder to get a deal, and in many cases the Revenue is actually losing out on money because they are forcing people to go bankrupt (and so writing off the debt) rather than coming to a sensible business arrangement to collect cash.
Posted by: David Nicoll , 20 Jan 2010 | 00:00