Certificates of tax deposit scheme closed

Certificates of tax deposit are no longer available to buy.

The government shut the scheme at midnight on 23 November to ‘make the tax system simpler and fairer’.

Current certificates will be honoured until 23 November 2023. Any remaining after that date should be submitted to HMRC for a refund. The Revenue will settle the balance of any certificate that remains unpaid and unclaimed. If it is unable to do so perhaps because the certificate holder cannot be contacted the balance will be regarded as forfeit.

The Association of Taxation Technicians is concerned at the lack of consultation on the closure. Explaining that the scheme was designed to enable taxpayers to save for a future tax liability or to put aside money pending a decision as to whether tax was payable Yvette Nunn co-chair of the ATT’s technical steering group said: ‘The announcement provides no detail of...