Citation, commencement and effect

1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Post Office Compensation Schemes and Victims of Overseas Terrorism Compensation Scheme (Tax Exemptions and Relief) Regulations 2024 and come into force on 14th March 2024.

(2) These Regulations have effect from—

(a) 13th November 2012 in relation to Victims of Overseas Terrorism Compensation Scheme payments,

(b) 1st August 2022 in relation to Group Litigation Order nominated individual compensation payments,

(c) 8th November 2023 in relation to Process Review Scheme compensation payments, and

(d) 8th November 2023 in relation to Suspension Remuneration Review compensation payments.

Interpretation

2. In these Regulations—

“ Group Litigation Order nominated individual compensation payment ” means a payment made by the Department for Business and Trade under the scheme announced by His Majesty’s Government on 22 March 2022 with the objective of ensuring that persons who were party to a claim against Post Office Limited in respect of the Horizon system that was subject to a group litigation order have access to compensation for losses related to that system to a nominated individual;

“ the Horizon system ” means previous versions of the computer system used by Post Office Limited known as Horizon (and sometimes referred to as Legacy Horizon, Horizon Online or HNG-X);

“ nominated individual ” means any person who was a shareholder or a director of a company or a partner in a partnership which ceased to exist and was a party to a claim against Post Office Limited in respect of the Horizon system that was subject to a group litigation order;

“ Post Office Limited ” means the private company limited by shares with the company number 02154540 whose registered office is 100 Wood Street, London, United Kingdom, EC2V 7ER;

“ Process Review Scheme compensation payment ” means a payment of compensation made by Post Office Limited under the review established by Post Office Limited to provide redress to postmasters who were financially impacted by previous processes or policies in relation to balance discrepancies unrelated to the Horizon system;

“ Suspension Remuneration Review compensation payment ” means a payment of compensation (including any top-up payments) made by Post Office Limited under the review established by Post Office Limited to provide redress to postmasters contracted to deliver Post Office services through branches who were suspended before March 2019 and did not receive remuneration during their period of suspension;

“ Victims of Overseas Terrorism Compensation Scheme payment ” means a payment made under the Victims of Overseas Terrorism Compensation Scheme( 2 ) established under section 47 of the Crime and Security Act 2010( 3 ).

Exemptions from income tax for compensation payments

3. The following compensation payments are qualifying payments for the purposes of paragraph 3 of Schedule 15 to the Finance Act 2020—

(a) Group Litigation Order nominated individual compensation payments,

(b) Process Review Scheme compensation payments,

(c) Suspension Remuneration Review compensation payments, and

(d) Victims of Overseas Terrorism Compensation Scheme payments.

Exemptions from capital gains tax for compensation payments

4. The following compensation payments are qualifying payments for the purposes of paragraph 4 of Schedule 15 to the Finance Act 2020—

(a) Group Litigation Order nominated individual compensation payments,

(b) Process Review Scheme compensation payments,

(c) Suspension Remuneration Review compensation payments, and

(d) Victims of Overseas Terrorism Compensation Scheme payments.

Relief from inheritance tax for Group Litigation Order nominated individual compensation payments

5.Group Litigation Order nominated individual compensation payments are qualifying payments for the purposes of paragraph 5 of Schedule 15 to the Finance Act 2020.