4,000 construction firms defer tax under new scheme
Thousands of construction firms defer tax bills for three months under HMRC scheme
The taxman has agreed to defer £77m in taxes across more than 4,000
construction firms, due to deteriorating economic conditions.
HM Revenue & Customs has agreed ‘time to pay’ arrangements with 4,200
firms, so they can defer any taxes they needed to pay over the next three
months, reports
Construction
News.
The firms make up around a fifth of the 20,000 businesses that HMRC has
reached agreement with for tax deferrals. The scheme was introduced in the
pre-Budget report.
‘This is not only for construction businesses with a finance director or a
treasurer,’ said permanent secretary for tax at HMRC Dave Hartnett.
‘We’re interested in hearing from small businesses also, where the proprietor
may do all of those things themselves.’
However he added that the taxman would not be more lenient on the industry’s
tax scheme, which has been criticised for being too strict in judging whether a
contractor can be paid gross.
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