Time to pay

I have just phoned the Business Payment Support Service on behalf of a client. Their VAT liability for the quarter ended 31 December 2009 is just over £3 500.

One of the normal questions asked is ‘Have you used this scheme before?’. When I replied the client had used the scheme for the past four quarters I was told the scheme was only intended for first requests for deferred payments.

This does not correspond with my experience. Another client less than four hours earlier was given time to pay for their fifth consecutive VAT return and they are paying their corporation tax by monthly instalments under the scheme as well.

I had actually phoned earlier in the day for the first client and was told I had to supply the number of previous requests to the Business Payment Support Scheme the...