Thousands of self-employed take advantage of online Time to Pay service

Over 142,000 people have used HMRC’s online Time to Pay service in order to spread the cost of their self-assessment tax bill.

With the usual deadline date for tax returns being the 31^st of January, the 2020/21 tax year was delayed until the 1^st of April, meaning taxpayers had longer to file and pay without facing penalties.

Those who were unable to pay in full and had a tax bill under £30,000 could use the online Time to Pay service to spread the cost into manageable monthly instalments. Those who owed more than £30,000 or needed longer to pay could still use the service but they had to contact HMRC to arrange it.

According to HMRC data, since April 2021, self-assessment customers have used this service to pay nearly £475 million worth of tax in instalments.

Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s Director General for Customer Services, said, “I’d like to thank the millions of customers and agents who have sent us their tax returns and paid their tax bills.”

Anyone who did not pay their outstanding tax by the 1^st of April will now face a 5% late payment penalty on any outstanding tax.

To find out more about contracting please contact Jaime on 01442 795 100 or email jaime.thorpe@dolanaccountancy.com.