Unpaid Taxes: Coronavirus

(asked on 7th June 2021) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has conducted a cost-benefit analysis of enforcing tax debt on people who have become unemployed as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.


Answered by
Jesse Norman Portrait
Jesse Norman
This question was answered on 10th June 2021

The Government has put in place very substantial support for taxpayers during this extraordinary time of uncertainty, including the introduction of a range of measures to help businesses and individuals to manage their tax liabilities.

This has included support for those in Self-Assessment, where taxpayers were given the option of deferring their July 2020 Payment on Account until January 2021 to give immediate support to businesses and individuals by keeping cash at their disposal during this extraordinary period of uncertainty.

In addition, HMRC scaled up their Time to Pay service where businesses or individuals can look to agree tailored plans to defer certain tax payments and repay them over a longer period of time.

HMRC also waived late filing penalties for Income Tax Self-Assessment (ITSA) returns due on 31 January 2021 for those who filed online by 28 February 2021, and announced that ITSA taxpayers would not be charged the 5% late payment penalty usually due on 3 March if they paid their tax or set up a payment plan by 1 April 2021.

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