HMRC changes policy on time-to-pay arrangements

If you owe tax in respect of disguised remuneration settlements and the loan charge, you’ll want to know about HMRC’s recent change of policy on time-to-pay arrangements . These tax debts automatically qualified for a time-to-pay arrangement over five years if your earnings were less than £50,000 per year or, where the loan charge applies, seven years if you earned less than £30,000.

HMRC will now use your most recent complete tax-year information available to determine if you’re eligible for the automatic time-to-pay deals and generally for other personal tax debts. The new criteria will apply to future time-to-pay arrangements but will not affect those which already exist.

Although the automatic time-to-pay deals don’t apply to those whose earnings exceed than £50,000 per year, HMRC says that it will consider flexible payment plans that can be amended over time to take account of changes in your circumstances.