As we start to recover from the worst effects of the Covid 19 Pandemic, many owners, directors and self-employed individuals remain concerned about having enough funds to pay their self-assessment income tax bill.
The good news is that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) does have a facility for spreading out your income tax payments. HMRC’s ‘time-to-pay’ arrangement allows you to pay your tax bill in pre-agreed instalments, with a small amount of interest added on for the use of this service.
How does the time-to-pay scheme work?
The time-to-pay scheme relates to HMRC’s online payment plan service, allowing you to come to an agreement about deferring your tax bill and spreading the costs over several months.
The amount that you can spread will include the balance of your 2020/21 tax and the payments on account towards the 2021/22 tax bill. Some other considerations of the facility include:
How to check if you’re eligible for online payments
So, how do you know if you’re eligible to set up a time-to-pay agreement with HMRC? There are five criteria that must be met for HMRC to consider an online payment arrangement.
The five criteria are:
The deadline to set up online payments is within 60 days of the due date – in this case, 1st April 2022 for the current tax year and the first payment on account for the coming tax year.
If you don’t qualify based on the five rules mentioned above, you can still apply for normal (not online) time-to-pay arrangements. It’s worth noting that time-to-pay arrangements don’t show up in credit searches – but if it ends up with an Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA) or County Court Judgement (CCJ) being made, that will obviously show up.
If you’re concerned about not being able to pay your January self-assessment income tax bill, please do come and talk to us. We’ll review your financial situation, your liquid funds and will work out how much you can realistically afford to pay.
Our Online tax filing is the easiest way to file your taxes and offers the best way to pay your taxes and receive your refund. If you want a hassle-free, easy way to file your taxes, give us a try.