The Government has adopted a strange approach to communicating its plan to abolish the first home saver account scheme, leaving affected deposit-taking institutions scratching their heads.The measure, as outlined in the Budget papers, was missing some information about transitional arrangements. That information popped up unheralded on the Australian Taxation Office website yesterday.The Government said accounts opened from Budget night would not be eligible for concessions and government co-contributions to existing accounts would cease from July 1.Tax concessions and asset and income test exemptions for government benefits associated with these accounts will cease from July 1, 2015.What the Budget papers did not say (but the ATO website did) was that restrictions on withdrawals would remain in place until July 1, 2015.The ATO also said: "Once the first home saver account scheme is abolished from 1 July 2015, these accounts will be treated like any other account held with a provider."And it said the existing rules would remain in place until legislation enabling the Budget measure was passed.KPMG financial services partner Jeremy Hirschhorn said the ATO guidance would clear up some of the transitional issues for ADIs.Hirschhorn said a number of ADIs would welcome the announcement. Of the 18 institutions listed on the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority website as FHSA providers, six had already stopped opening new accounts."The announcement will draw a line under it and give them some certainty," Hirschhorn said."But these are relatively complex products and all ADIs will incur costs dismantling them."He said it was unlikely that the ADIs would have any liability for the undelivered co-contributions and tax concessions offered under the scheme.First home saver accounts were introduced in 2008. Under the scheme, first-home buyers qualified for concessional tax treatment and government contributions if they contributed to their FHSA over four financial years. The accounts attracted a 17 per cent Government contribution on the first A$5,500 deposited in any year.At the end of last year, there were 46,000 FHSA accounts open, with a total of $521.5 million of deposits.