Strict measures for businesses who defer tax payments will be introduced next month, according to a statement released by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Under the new proposals, businesses who reschedule tax debts under the Business Payment Support Service (BPSS), otherwise known as the ‘Time To Pay’ scheme, must provide an independent business review if their tax debt exceeds £1m.

The review must be carried out by a qualified professional adviser, either an insolvency practitioner or an accountancy firm, at a cost to the business. The rules come into force after the proposals were originally announced in the pre-Budget report in 2009.

Nick Lodge, a spokesperson for HMRC, said: "In view of the amounts of tax involved, HMRC needs to ensure that decisions about large time to pay arrangements are supported by a comprehensive audit trail, to help guarantee better value for money and fairness for all taxpayers.

The BPSS was created in November 2008 to provide businesses in financial difficulty with the opportunity to defer their tax payments and spread them over a period of time to ease the financial burden. Chancellor Alistair Darling revealed in his Budget last week that the time to pay scheme would be extended for the whole of the next parliament.

Representatives for business are supportive of the measure. Matt Goodman, policy representative at the Forum of Private Business, said: "Perhaps some of the businesses being asked to present additional evidence will be dismayed.

"But by requiring an independent business review, it appears as if HMRC is trying to be careful about what size of debt it takes on, and taking steps to help these companies understand their own financial situation at the same time.

"To date, over 200,000 businesses have used the scheme, which covers payments in areas including PAYE, national insurance and VAT. More than £5.2bn of tax payments have been deferred, with £4bn paid back so far.