“Can’t pay my tax bill!” You’re not alone

The COVID-19 pandemic saw more than its fair share of winners and losers. Winners included online giants such as Amazon, which benefited from growing numbers of people shopping online. Similarly, supermarkets did well because they were able to remain open while many other businesses had to shut their doors. Online conferencing tools such as Zoom also saw huge growth. However, on the other hand, many people lost their jobs, saw their businesses struggle or fail, or found their self-employment income drying up. This led many people to realise: “I can’t pay my tax bill!” And now we have energy bills and taxes increasing at alarming rate too, as the government attempts to address rising inflation.

The number of people struggling with taxes is growing

Unsurprisingly, the number of people struggling with their tax bills has increased exponentially. According to this newspaper report, recent research has found that the number of people struggling with their tax bills is six times higher than it was after the global financial crisis ended.

The figures quoted in the article are quite an eye-opener. They include the following:

• 864,000 people are now in Time to Pay arrangements with HMRC (up 38% on the previous year and up 600% on 2010)
• £117 billion in overdue tax has been added to HMRC’s outstanding debts system (this is debt not covered by a Time to Pay agreement).

The dangers of unpaid tax bills

The scale of unpaid tax not covered by Time to Pay agreements is particularly worrying. As we reported a while ago now, HMRC is resuming debt collection in earnest. If you have unpaid taxes and haven’t made a Time to Pay agreement, HMRC may send someone to visit you at your home or business address. While they will initially focus on making sure you know what support is available, if you ignore communications about unpaid tax, then the taxman could use various enforcement powers. These can include taking control of goods, summary warrants and court action. In addition, the longer you leave tax unpaid, the more interest and charges rack up.

What is Time to Pay?

Hopefully, if you have experienced difficulties paying your tax bill, you will have come to a Time to Pay arrangement with the taxman. If you haven’t, it’s worth taking steps to agree one as soon as possible.

In a nutshell, a Time to Pay agreement may be open to you if you owe less than £30,000 in tax. In these cases, you could be able to set up a payment plan online without having to contact HMRC directly.

However, to be able to do this, you also need to meet these other criteria:

• You don’t have any other payment plans or debts with HMRC
• Your tax returns are all up to date
• It’s less than 60 days after the payment deadline.

I can’t pay my tax bill – and I can’t set up a payment plan online

If you are unable to set up a Time to Pay agreement online, it’s still not too late to take action. To agree a solution with the taxman, you need to call the Self Assessment Helpline on 0300 200 3310. Lines are open 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday (except bank holidays).

I can’t pay other taxes. What do I do?

If you are having trouble paying taxes other than Income Tax, you can agree a Time to Pay agreement for those as well. However, you cannot do this online. Instead you need to call HMRC’s Payment Support Service. This has a different number for you to call – 0300 200 3835 – but lines are open at the same times.

Can THP help me if I can’t pay my tax bill?

If you are a THP client, then we are very happy to advise you about what steps you need to take about unpaid taxes. Simply speak to your account manager for some friendly support.