Take the opportunity to earn brownie points with clients – Walker

This month some 4.8m people will be filing tax returns and paying the taxman what they owe.

But there is an added twist for 2018.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has made things a little more interesting (read: difficult) this year by implementing a new rule.

As of January 13 taxpayers will be unable to pay their tax bill using a credit card which gives you, their trusted broker, an opportunity.

In years gone by many self-employed workers would put their tax bill on their credit card in order to defer the pain of the payment until a later date.

However, as a result of the new ban on credit card charges the HMRC has taken the decision to stop taxpayers paying on plastic, since it will no longer be able to pass on the costs of processing payments.

Hit to cash flow

The worrying thing here is that I guess many taxpayers are unaware of this new rule and may be happily filling in their tax returns, plastic in hand, thinking all will be well and oblivious to an imminent hit on their cash flow.

Indeed, according to official figures, last year 454,000 taxpayers used personal credit cards to make their tax payments worth a total of £741m.

Telling your clients now about this change now could earn you some good brownie points and give them valuable extra time to make alternative arrangements and avoid a late payment fine.

Of course, for larger amounts second charge lenders will lend to pay tax bills.

Consolidation or business finance may also be appropriate for those relying heavily on credit cards for cash flow, so a well crafted email to your clients could result in some decent new business enquiries.