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Equitable liability has been replaced by a new statutory special relief, with effect from 1 April 2011.
HMRC have published guidance for officers regarding the new relief, which will be incorporated in the department's Self Assessment Claims manual.
The taxman will no longer accept new requests for equitable liability but will continue to consider claims for the concession that were received before 1 April.
The Revenue had originally intended to simply withdraw equitable liability, naming it as one of has one of ten extra statutory concessions to be axed from 1 April 2010, but the announcement in May 2009 led to an outcry from the tax profession, forcing a rethink by the government.
Barrister Keith Gordon, who set up an e-petition on the Downing Street website to oppose the withdrawal of equitable liability, said he was ‘delighted that equitable liability legislation will now allow claimants to use the relief more than once, in appropriate cases’.
