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Mr. Stephen Ross
asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will instruct Her Majesty's Customs and Excise to extend time limits for the payment of VAT where small firms find themselves in arrears due to bad debts and cash flow problems.
Mr. Robert Sheldon
Traders are not normally required to pay VAT to Her Majesty's Customs and Excise until an average of two and a half months after they make the relevant supplies. I do not believe it would be justified to change these arrangements in order to ease cash flow problems of individual firms.