HMRC reviews release of Time to Pay data

HM Revenue & Customs has postponed the release of statistical information on Time to Pay arrangements whilst it considers a possible policy of data secrecy.

Time to Pay arrangements may be more familiar to businesses or those in payroll administration as Business Payment Support Service arrangements. These are designed to allow businesses to defer tax payments to the Revenue if they are in genuine difficulty of paying their tax on time and are likely to be able to if given some flexibility.

Most commonly used by self-employed people and small companies, the arrangements cover most tax and duties from VAT, income tax and corporation tax to PAYE and National Insurance contributions.

Speaking in Accountancy Age, the president of the UK200group Colin Howe said that he was "very concerned" about the proposal to make data on TPP arrangements unavailable to those outside HMRC.

Mr Howe cited Vince Cable's recent speech at an Institute of Directors event, where the Business Secretary said that the HMRC was still under instructions to make it "easy" for applicants to receive TTP.

Howe says that the decision to withhold data "contrasts with the experience of most practitioners...If stats aren't published, we'll never know."

Another prominent figure in business accountancy and tax, Richard Mannion of Smith and Williamson, told Accountancy Age that the latest announcement "doesn't quite tie-up" with the positive impression that HMRC gives on TTP arrangements.

According to a HMRC spokesman, the department is currently "considering the release of statistics" for TTP, "Until such a review is completed, HMRC is unable to provide statistical information for the BPSS."

In the last figures revealed by HMRC this March, it was revealed that some £5.13bn in taxes was deferred by businesses setting up 300,000 TTPs in the first 15 months of the scheme. In the last budget by the Labour government, Alastair Darling extended their availability to 2015.