£3bn in tax payments deferred by HMRC

The taxman has now deferred £3.17bn in tax under arrangements announced in April's Budget - around 177,000 separate deferral agreements- to ease the burden on business in the recession. The latest statistics from HM Revenue and Customs show that while the sum deferred is still climbing it is not all outstanding - around £2bn has been paid back. That leaves a sum of £1.14bn still in the process of being repaid.  According to a statement from HMRC around 90% of what was expected to be repaid has been received. Of the £3bn deferred £320m forms repeat deferrals. Around 60% of deferrals are for three months or less.

The payment service arranges deferrals of PAYE, VAT, national insurance and corporation tax.

Businesses are able to use the service if they are 'genuinely unable to pay' and if the tax they owe is on the previous year's profits or if a trading loss in the current year is a high probability.