Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with representatives of HMRC on the challenges faced by businesses in the payment of their tax as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

Treasury Ministers and officials have regular meetings with HMRC officials as part of policy development and delivery. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on taxpayers has formed part of these discussions.

HMRC is doing everything it can to help businesses with temporary cash-flow issues to survive as the economy grows, and to provide individuals with support they need.

HMRC’s longstanding Time to Pay policy allows businesses in temporary financial difficulty to schedule their tax debts into affordable and sustainable instalment arrangements with no maximum repayment period. These arrangements are flexible and can be amended if the business’s circumstances change.

At the end of September 2021, there were almost 890,000 Time to Pay arrangements in place, worth over £4.6 billion. This is a substantial increase from the end of the year 2019-20, when HMRC had around 650,000 arrangements worth around £2.0 billion.

Any taxpayer concerned about their ability to pay should contact HMRC to discuss the support available.