The appellant company had arrears of PAYE and NICs. In January 2015, a ‘time to pay’ arrangement was made between the appellant and the debt management unit of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to pay the arrears. However, no such payments were made. A second time to pay arrangement was agreed with HMRC in June 2015, in respect of PAYE and NICs arrears of £95,000. No payments were made and the arrangement failed. A further time to pay request by the appellant in August 2015 was refused by HMRC, as no payments had been made under the previous arrangements.

HMRC also noted (among other things) that the appellant had PAYE and NICs debts dating back to June 2014, that real time information (RTI) returns had been rendered without payment in full, that 14 RTI returns remained unpaid, and that the total debt for 2014/15 and 2015/16 amounted to £111,366.71.

HMRC issued a