COVID-19 Response: Time To Pay Arrangements for Tax Liabilities (last updated 23 March 2020)

HMRC has for many years operated a Time to Pay service, where taxpayers who are unable to meet a tax liability in full on the due date have been able to try to negotiate a payment plan with HMRC to settle the liability over a number of months. This applied to a wide range of taxes including income tax, corporation tax, PAYE and VAT.

In the Budget on 11 March the Chancellor announced a new dedicated Time to Pay helpline for businesses and self-employed people struggling to meet tax liabilities in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. The new telephone number for this service is 0800 0159 559. Opening hours are 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 4pm on Saturdays. The helpline will be closed on Sundays and bank holidays.

This facility will cover existing liabilities and also upcoming ones. However HMRC will generally only consider applications when the value of the tax liability is known to them, so the return on which the tax is due should already have been filed before contacting HMRC (generally give it a day or two after filing to allow the liability to show up on HMRC's systems)>

As with all Time to Pay arrangements, HMRC will view matters on a case-by-case basis and will tailor them to the taxpayers' own circumstances and needs.

Please note that upcoming VAT and Income Tax payments (for the self-employed) are subject to separate deferral arrangements so need not be included on Time to Pay arrangements at this time. Please see our separate pages on these:

COVID-19 Response: Deferral of VAT Payments (last updated 23 March 2020)

COVID-19 Response: Deferral of July 2020 Income Tax Payments for the Self-Employed (last updated 23 March 2020)