Lewes are fighting to stay in existence for the second time in three months.

The Rooks return to the High Court on Wednesday to face a winding-up petition which was adjourned in August.

And while they have repaid more than half of their £107,000 tax debt, they could be wound up for the sum of £20,000.

Lewes will have repaid £60,000 in a three-month period by the end of November but there is a discrepancy over how much they had to give back by that stage.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) say they should have reduced the debt by a further £20,000 and want either that sum or, preferably, the balance of £47,000 in full.

Chief executive Martin Elliott insists Lewes have done everything asked of them at the August hearing by making a downpayment of £30,000 plus three further monthly payments of £10,000 but the dispute with HMRC could threaten the future of the club.

Elliott has worked tirelessly to raise the £60,000 so far but finding another lump sum at short notice could be fatal for a club in such a precarious position, even though they have balanced the books for the current season.

This could bring back into play the possibility of Lewes going into administration before Wednesday’s hearing, although Elliott believes that option should only be used as a direct alternative to going out of business.

Elliott is meeting with the club’s solicitors today to discuss what happens next but is disappointed by HMRC’s stance.

He said: “HMRC are suggesting it has got to be paid off in full which I find wholly unreasonable.

“I would love a third party to look at it in an arbitration situation, because we have paid a significant amount of money back, we have halved the debt in three months and it must be in the public interest to give us time to pay back the rest. We have showed our intention to clear the debt, we just need a bit more time.

“There is a little confusion in exactly what his (the tax inspector) understanding was when we agreed on the 12-week deferment.

“In my opinion we have done everything we have been asked to do. From his most recent email he has a slightly different take on it which we would disagree with.

“If he was expecting something different why has he left it to now to tell us?

“At the end of the day we owe £50,000 which, with the utmost respect, isn’t a huge amount particularly when you look at other clubs and what they owe.”

Although they would prefer the full amount, HMRC have indicated if Lewes found the additional £20,000 they would lift the winding-up petition and agree to a repayment plan on the remaining debt of a further £10,000 a month until it is cleared.

Even this would be tough for Lewes whose gates are down, partly due to the economic downturn and partly due to results, although they could earn themselves a small windfall by beating Eastleigh in the FA Trophy tomorrow when the winners bank £4,000.

With HMRC playing hard-ball it could be a worrying time for Lewes fans in the run up to next Wednesday. If the taxmen refuse to budge, Lewes will have to either find people to stump up the cash, consider taking a commercial loan, go into administration or take their chances in court, which Elliott knows is a dangerous game.

He said: “Nobody wants it sorted quicker than I do. I think it will go to court. We have one or two other things we could turn to. There is the offer of help from our local MP and we could go to the district council or the league.

“If we can’t reach an agreement on something that is mutually acceptable we will make and state our case as strongly as we can backed up by support from these type of people.

“If we could just sort this problem out, sort out the sponsorship side which we haven’t been able to do, then we will get to the end of the season and that would be a fantastic achievement.

“We have gone a long way down the road and there are lots of good things happening but we have a couple more battles to fight.”