The Business Payment Support Service (BPSS) was announced by the Chancellor in the 2008 Pre-Budget Report.

The service is designed to assist all businesses that will be unable to pay their tax and covers most taxes and duties including income tax, corporation tax, VAT, PAYE and NIC.

In order to qualify, the business/client will be:-

·         in genuine difficulty;

·         unable to pay their tax on time; or

·         likely to be able to pay if HMRC allowed them more time.

From 22 April 2009, any viable business anticipating making a trading loss in the current tax year will be able to have the anticipated loss taken into account as part of any rescheduling of its corporation tax or income tax payments.

The new measure means businesses will no longer have to wait for the end of their accounting period, which may be months ahead, to have the loss taken into account in calculating what they have to pay.

In order to use this facility, you will need to reach agreement with the BPSS otherwise you will need to wait until the end of your accounting period as is the normal position for claiming loss relief.

Posted on 12 Nov 2009