Published: 13/03/2025 By Andrew Bailey
Yesterday it was nice to finish the day with successfully achieving a time to pay arrangement with HMRC for one of my clients. It means that they can pay their HMRC liability in full over a longer period of time and avoid the need for an insolvency process.Due to a recent change in policy with HMRC it appears that the director must be on any call when an arrangement is put in place and an adviser cannot achieve this themselves without the director also confirming their agreement.
Therefore a bit more challenging but not insurmountable to get all parties on a call.
It was interesting to sit in on the call to understand the process that HMRC go through with the director to agree terms. Understandably this includes doing a high level review of the company's financial position so they understand what the company is able to repay. I understand this has to be undertaken when any arrangement goes over six months.
I will not go into detail on the terms we agreed but they were well beyond six months but were based upon a good argument on what was achievable for the company, what the alternatives were and why it made sense for HMRC to agree terms.
The person from HMRC on the call was very helpful and I thought approached it in a fair and pragmatic way, meaning we managed to get the outcome we achieved which is best for all parties. I am confident it will result in the company avoiding Liquidation and HMRC now being paid in full which would not have occurred in a Liquidation scenario.
Turpin Barker Armstrong are always happy to help get the best results for directors, this does not always mean an insolvency process. Give us a call if you need some advice. the sooner you call usually means the more options available.