We’re approaching the end of the 23/24 tax year (if you’ve forgotten, here’s your reminder to make your tax payments!). For some, this has been an incredibly difficult year in business. If you’ve struggled to make it this far, you might be dreading your VAT and PAYE payments.
So what can be done to help your cashflow?
First of all, it can be really important to take an honest look at the business. If you were to split the payments into more manageable amounts, would that carry you through a temporarily difficult time, or would you be delaying the inevitable?
Once you’ve established that the business is able to recover in the not-too-long term, it’s time to speak to your bookkeeper or accountant. After all, they’ll need to get in touch with HMRC (and no one frantically running a business has time for that!) It’s always better to inform HMRC as early as possible, once you have a plan on how you would spread the costs.
I thought HMRC only chased tax payments?
It’s true, HMRC does like to make sure its accounts are in order, and it will levy fines if necessary, but they do also have some flexibility in their operations. Of course, they can’t read your mind (it’s probably for the best), so letting them know is the best way of engaging that leniency.
What assistance can they provide. One route is called TTP or a Time To Pay arrangement. This is agreed with your HMRC office, and will help spread the payment of outstanding tax over an agreed period. But, in order to successfully argue for your arrangement, you will need to provide evidence explaining why you cannot pay immediately, and demonstrate that this is likely to be a short term inconvenience, rather than a permanent problem.
Want to avoid the worry?
This might be the time to hire a bookkeeper or accountant to help you with your budgeting, financial forecast and give you an indication of how the business is doing. Sometimes, having the data in front for you is simply not enough.
If you’re looking to understand your business’ finances better, why not ask for some support? With a wealth of experience and a range of options available, we can support your business into long term and sustainable growth. Fill in our contact form or give us a call on 0161 211 9837 to find out how we can help you.