HMRC’s guidance: How to pay a debt to HMRC with a Time to Pay arrangement was updated on 17 February 2025. This covers businesses which owe a debt to the department.
The updates cover:
- Information about when a payment plan can be set up without contacting HMRC has been added.
- Section ‘How we work out debt repayments’ has been removed as the information is covered in the section
- Information to work out what businesses can afford to pay has been updated in the section ‘How we work out what you can afford to pay’.
If a business owes VAT
It can set up a payment plan to spread the cost of its latest VAT bill online without calling HMRC if it:
- has missed the deadline to pay a VAT bill
- owes £100,000 or less
- plan to pay its debt off within the next 12 months
- has a debt for an accounting period that started in 2023 or later
- does not have any other payment plans or debts with HMRC
- has filed all your tax returns
More information here: set up a payment plan online.
How to contact HMRC to discuss a Time to Pay arrangement
If a business cannot pay its tax bill and needs assistance (ie; the online arrangements above are not applicable) we recommend that it should contact HMRC as soon as possible.