Why does Strata deal with HMRC Time to Pay before a refinance?

Because outstanding tax debt is one of the fastest automatic declines in UK SME lending. If PAYE, VAT or Corporation Tax is in arrears, many mainstream and even some specialist underwriters stop reading. A live Time to Pay arrangement does not magic the debt away — it shows HMRC has agreed a path, which is the difference between "this file is toxic" and "this file can be underwritten".

Strata's sequence

1. Time to Pay through a specialist partner where arrears exist.
2. Affordability pack that includes the TTP instalment as a known outgoing.
3. Refinance proposal to CDFIs and specialists who will look at a cleaned-up tax position.
4. Working-capital lines only after the core stack is rebuilt.

What Time to Pay is not

• It is not a loan from Strata.
• It is not guaranteed. HMRC has discretion. Prior TTPs and poor engagement count against you.
• It is often short. The calculator on the site notes HMRC commonly limits TTP to 12 months on arrears over £350,000.

Time to Pay is not time to hide. If you are already in correspondence with HMRC, bring that to the diagnostic. Do not wait for a default notice before you ask whether a refinance file is still possible.

Use the HMRC TTP calculator on the homepage for a rough monthly shape, then book a diagnostic rather than treating the number as a quote.