What if You Don't Pay Your Tax?

July is one of those big tax-paying months...

- If you are self-employed you need to pay your income tax and class 4 NIC on-account payment for 2010/11 by 31 July.
- A company with a 30 September 2010 year end must pay its corporation tax by 1 July 2011.
- Employers must pay class 1A NICs on benefits by 19 July.
- Quarterly payments of PAYE are due by the same date. Monthly payments of PAYE and CIS deductions are due by 19th of every month, or by 22nd if paying electronically.

If you or your company will not be able to pay the tax due on time you should contact the Tax Office business payment support line (0845 302 1435) without delay, or we can do this for you. Once the tax due is actually late, even by a day, it is much more difficult to negotiate a reasonable payment plan with the Taxman.

The Taxman is now very keen to chase every penny of tax owed, and you will start to receive aggressively worded letters if you don't pay on time. If you do not react or pay promptly you will receive telephone calls and possibly personal visits from professional debt collectors. The situation can escalate quite quickly into bailiffs being authorised to seize your goods, or a court judgement being enforced.

If you receive a letter demanding tax due, don't ignore it. Even if you believe there is nothing owed you need to sort the situation before the heavies turn up!