Originally Posted by
toscana24
Air passenger duty is paid by passengers in advance - i.e. when they buy their tickets - the amounts collected should be remitted to the Govt via a monthly return. That actually helps the cash flow of businesses BUT it is not money an airline should use for their own business purposes; to do so to my mind is a "criminal" misuse of APD paid by a pax to Govt via the airline. If, as is being reported, BE owe £100m, someone should be held accountable. No one likes paying APD (or any taxes) but when a businesses diverts taxes to keep themselves afloat that is clearly wrong.
But are you sure those monthly returns have not already been agreed to be deferred for a year with HMRC, or are they monthly but a year in arrears?
Business regularly defer tax payments that are supposedly paid on a monthly or yearly basis. APD will more than likely have a similar mechanism for deferment.
It could be that they deferred last years and now they are in the realisation that the business is going one way only and that deferred tax is the straw that broke the camels back!
Deferrement of taxes is not illegal by any stretch.
Trading while knowingly insolvent is!