Over £5bn of overdue taxes in March as coronavirus crisis bites

HMRC added £5.047bn of overdue taxes to its debt collection systems in March 2020 as the effects of the coronavirus crisis started to bite according to recently released statistics. This is above the monthly average of late paid taxes over the past year at £4.39bn.

Sean Glancy partner at UHY Hacker Young said the debt was likely to rise in April and May as increasing numbers of businesses and individuals are having to delay tax payments.

He added: ‘Levels of overdue tax are going to get much worse as we head into summer and autumn. The VAT deferment period ends on 30 June and from that date businesses will have to start paying VAT again which could lead to a spike in overdue taxes.’

He noted that although ‘HMRC has promised to be more lenient in accepting businesses that apply to enter into...