CIS repayments, or not

I have just read point 147 ‘Business Tax – CIS repayments’ in Taxline (the ICAEW Tax Faculty magazine); these repayments are a subject that I have been banging on about for years.

Basically the magazine says HMRC acknowledge there are delays in issuing repayments to contractors in the construction industry scheme but that they are allocating more staff to the problem.

They say one reason for the delay is the need to check that end-of-year information is correct and complete and that repayments can only start from June each year after the 19 May return submission deadline has passed.

The department concludes by saying that if a business owes money to the Revenue but is awaiting a repayment debt recovery action will be postponed.

It makes me a little upset for HMRC...