Corporate report

Your rights and responsibilities

Updated 26 February 2026

How we can take money from your accounts

To recover the amount you owe, we can instruct banks and building societies to tell us how much money you have in your sole or joint accounts, including cash ISAs. We can then place a hold on your accounts up to the amount you owe. We can then take the amount on hold towards payment of the amount you owe.

However, we can only place a hold on your accounts if there are enough funds across all your accounts to leave an available balance of at least £5,000.

Joint accounts

For a joint account, we’ll assume each account holder holds an equal share of the funds. For example, if you have a joint account with one other person, we’ll assume that only 50% of the account balance belongs to you when considering a hold on the account.

We won’t share details of the debt with the other joint account holders, but we have to tell them that a hold has been placed on part of the account. This is because they can object to the hold in certain circumstances.

Objections

You have 30 days to object to a hold on your accounts

We’ll write to you enclosing a copy of our ‘hold notice’ (our letter to the bank or building society) giving details of the amount on hold. Before we can take this amount to pay what you owe, you have 30 days to object if you think any of the following apply:

• you’ve already paid the debt in whole or in part

• at the time you were given the hold notice, there was no relevant sum due, as defined in paragraph 2 of Schedule 8 to the Finance (No 2) Act 2015

• at the time you were given the hold notice, you didn’t hold the account in question

• the hold notice will cause exceptional hardship to you or another person

• a third party has a beneficial interest in the account

These are the only grounds on which we can consider an objection to the hold on your accounts. You’ll need to explain why you’re objecting and include any supporting evidence.

You must send us your objection in writing by Royal Mail ‘signed for’ post to:

DM – Direct Recovery of Debt
HM Revenue and Customs
BX9 2ED

We must receive your objection within 30 days of the date of the hold notice.

What happens next

If we have not received any objection to the hold notice within 30 days, and you haven’t paid in full or agreed a payment plan with us, we’ll instruct your bank or building society to deduct the amount on hold from your accounts. They will then send it to us as payment towards the amount you owe.

If you’ve sent us an objection within the 30 days, we will make a decision on your objection within 30 days of receiving it. If we decide not to uphold your objection, you can appeal to a county court.

If you do not agree with our decision 

England and Wales

You can appeal to a County Court. You need to submit your appeal in writing within 30 days from the date you receive the letter informing you of HMRC’s decision on your objection. To do this, fill out the appeal form N161 and send it to a County Court. For guidance and forms: Give details of your appeal to the court: Form N161 - GOV.UK

Find the relevant County Court address on GOV.UK

You also need to send us a copy of your appeal form by Date A. 

Please send it by post to:

HMRC Legal Group 
14 Westfield Avenue 
Stratford 
LONDON 
E20 1HZ 

Or you can email us.

Once received, we can pause further action until the County Court considers your appeal is considered by the County Court.

Northern Ireland

To appeal to the county court, follow these steps:

• complete the Notice of Appeal in Appendix A
• submit the completed Notice to your local County Court Division Courthouse, addressed to the Chief Clerk - find locations on GOV.UK
• file the original HMRC rejection letter and proof of service with the Chief Clerk at least 28 days before the hearing
• pay the required fee (see website for details)
• serve a copy of your Notice of Appeal to HMRC and any other relevant parties