Any bid by HM Revenue & Customs to boost revenues and cut government borrowing by ending tax deferments will lead to a second wave of insolvencies and prolong the recession, say recovery specialists. At the annual conference of TMA (UK) a trade association of professionals involved in turnaround, reconstruction and refinance, president Tyrone Courtman will say that insolvencies are running at a lower rate than expected during 'the worst economic downturn in living memory'. One of the reasons is that more than 168,000 businesses have been able to defer tax payments - an incoming government faced with the need to cut its debts will be 'strongly tempted' to claw back £30bn in tax arrears by ending 'time to pay' agreements. But Courtman says that one lesson of the 1990s is that insolvencies only peaked three years after the recession was technically over - and a crackdown on tax deferments next year will only lead to the same thing happening again. 'All good things must come to an end,' Courtman tells the conference. 'the Treasury's tax take is significantly down and HMRC is going to have to start collecting soon. There has already been a hardening of HMRC's attitude and we are beginning to see an end of some deferment schemes.'