| The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has called for Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to issue much-needed cheques on time to around 130,000 small businesses. The call follows news that HMRC has admitted it could take until December to issue the cheques. The payments of £150 are incentives for filing annual PAYE returns online.
The scheme, introduced in 2004, was meant to encourage small businesses to file PAYE online and will become compulsory in 2010.
Bill Knox, FSB National Taxation Chairman, said:
“It is a very different scenario when the HMRC are owed money from small businesses – there is little room for a small business owner to tell the taxman, ‘actually, it will take about four months to pay you because we’ve just been too busy.
“What we are saying is don’t wave a carrot to small businesses if it’s going to be left in the air for months. The financial incentive may not be a substantial amount to larger businesses but is vital to smaller ones, and waiting over a quarter of a year for it is too long a time.
“The Government quite rightly disapproves of late payment of both tax demands and monies between businesses. HMRC, as an arm of the Government, should set an example and pay within thirty days.”
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