| Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 (c. 1) | |||||||||
| 1988 c. 1 - continued | |||||||||
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An Act to consolidate certain of the enactments relating to income tax and corporation tax, including certain enactments relating also to capital gains tax; and to repeal as obsolete section 339(1) of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1970 and paragraphs 3 and 4 of Schedule 11 to the Finance Act 1980. | |||||||||
| [9th February 1988] | |||||||||
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: | |||||||||
The charge to income tax. | 1.(1) Income tax shall be charged in accordance with the provisions of the Income Tax Acts in respect of all property, profits or gains respectively described or comprised in the Schedules, A, B, C, D, E and F, set out in sections 15 to 20 or which in accordance with the Income Tax Acts are to be brought into charge to tax under any of those Schedules or otherwise. (2) Where any Act enacts that income tax shall be charged for any year, income tax shall be charged for that year
(3) The amount up to which an individual's income is by virtue of subsection (2) above chargeable for any year at the basic rate shall be known as the basic rate limit; and the parts of income in excess of the basic rate limit which are specified in paragraph (b) of that subsection shall be known respectively as the first, second, third, fourth and fifth higher rate bands. (4) If the retail prices index for the month of December preceding a year of assessment is higher than it was for the previous December, then, unless Parliament otherwise determines, subsection (2) above shall apply for that year as if for each of the amounts specified in that subsection as it applied for the previous year (whether by virtue of this subsection or otherwise) there were substituted an amount arrived at by increasing the amount for the previous year by the same percentage as the percentage increase in the retail prices index and, if the result is not a multiple of £100, rounding it up to the nearest amount which is such a multiple. (5) Subsection (4) above shall not require any change to be made in the amounts deductible or repayable under section 203 between the beginning of a year of assessment and 5th May in that year. (6) The Treasury shall before each year of assessment make an order specifying the amounts which by virtue of subsection (4) above will be treated as specified for that year in subsection (2) above. (7) Part VII contains general provisions relating to the taxation of income of individuals. | ||||||||
Fractions of a pound, and yearly assessments. | 2.(1) The due proportion of income tax shall be charged for every fractional part of one pound. (2) Every assessment and charge to income tax shall be made for a year commencing on the 6th April and ending on the following 5th April. | ||||||||
Certain income charged at basic rate. | 3. Where a person is required to be assessed and charged with income tax in respect of any property, profits or gains out of which he makes any payment in respect of
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Construction of references in Income Tax Acts to deduction of tax. | 4.(1) Any provision of the Income Tax Acts requiring, permitting or assuming the deduction of income tax from any amount (otherwise than in pursuance of section 203) or treating income tax as having been deducted from or paid on any amount, shall, subject to any provision to the contrary, be construed as referring to deduction or payment of income tax at the basic rate in force for the relevant year of assessment. (2) For the purposes of subsection (1) above, the relevant year of assessment shall be taken to be (except where otherwise provided)
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Date for payment. | 5.(1) Subject to the provisions of the Income Tax Acts and in particular to subsection (2) below and section 203, income tax contained in an assessment for any year shall be payable on or before the 1st January in that year, or at the expiration of a period of 30 days beginning with the date of the issue of the notice of assessment, whichever is the later. (2) Subject to subsection (3) below, income tax under Schedule D charged for any year on any individual or firm in respect of the profits or gains of any trade, profession or vocation and contained in an assessment for that year shall, instead of being payable in accordance with subsection (1) above, be payable in two equal instalments, the first on or before the 1st January in that year or at the expiration of the period referred to in subsection (1) above, and the second on or before the following 1st July; and the provisions of the Income Tax Acts as to the recovery of income tax shall apply to each instalment of the tax in the same manner as they apply to the whole amount of the tax. (3) Where the date of the issue of the notice of assessment is later than the 1st June following the end of the year of assessment, subsection (2) above shall not have effect, and the tax shall be due and payable as provided in subsection (1) above. (4) Except as otherwise provided by the Income Tax Acts, any income tax charged at a rate other than the basic rate on
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The charge to corporation tax and exclusion of income tax and capital gains tax. | 6.(1) Corporation tax shall be charged on profits of companies, and the Corporation Tax Acts shall apply, for any financial year for which Parliament so determines, and where an Act charges corporation tax for any financial year the Corporation Tax Acts apply, without any express provision, for that year accordingly. (2) The provisions of the Income Tax Acts relating to the charge of income tax shall not apply to income of a company (not arising to it in a fiduciary or representative capacity) if
(4) In this section, sections 7 to 12, 114, 115 (but subject to subsection (7)), 242, 243, 247 and 248, Part VIII, Chapter IV of Part X and Part XI, except in so far as the context otherwise requires
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Treatment of certain payments and repayment of income tax. | 7.(1) No payment made by a company resident in the United Kingdom shall be treated for any purpose of the Income Tax Acts as paid out of profits or gains brought into charge to income tax; nor shall any right or obligation under the Income Tax Acts to deduct income tax from any payment be affected by the fact that the recipient is a company not chargeable to income tax in respect of the payment. (2) Subject to the provisions of the Corporation Tax Acts, where a company resident in the United Kingdom receives any payment on which it bears income tax by deduction, the income tax thereon shall be set off against any corporation tax assessable on the company by an assessment made for the accounting period in which that payment falls to be taken into account for corporation tax (or would fall to be taken into account but for any exemption from corporation tax); and accordingly in respect of that payment the company, unless wholly exempt from corporation tax, shall not be entitled to a repayment of income tax before the assessment for that accounting period is finally determined and it appears that a repayment is due. (3) Subsection (2) above does not apply to a payment of relevant loan interest to which section 369 applies. (4) References in this section to payments received by a company apply to any received by another person on behalf of or in trust for the company, but not to any received by the company on behalf of or in trust for another person. (5) Effect shall be given to section 6(2), to that section as modified by subsection (2) above and by section 11(3) and, so far as exemptions from income tax conferred by the Corporation Tax Acts call for repayment of tax, to those exemptions by means of a claim. | ||||||||
General scheme of corporation tax. | 8.(1) Subject to any exceptions provided for by the Corporation Tax Acts, a company shall be chargeable to corporation tax on all its profits wherever arising. (2) A company shall be chargeable to corporation tax on profits accruing for its benefit under any trust, or arising under any partnership, in any case in which it would be so chargeable if the profits accrued to it directly; and a company shall be chargeable to corporation tax on profits arising in the winding up of the company, but shall not otherwise be chargeable to corporation tax on profits accruing to it in a fiduciary or representative capacity except as respects its own beneficial interest (if any) in those profits. (3) Corporation tax for any financial year shall be charged on profits arising in that year; but assessments to corporation tax shall be made on a company by reference to accounting periods, and the amount chargeable (after making all proper deductions) of the profits arising in an accounting period shall, where necessary, be apportioned between the financial years in which the accounting period falls.
(4) In any financial year assessments for accounting periods falling wholly or partly in that year or (subject to subsection (5) below) in the preceding year may, notwithstanding that corporation tax has not at the time been charged for the year in question, charge tax for so much of the period as falls within that year according to the rate of tax and the other rates and the fractions last fixed, but any such charge shall be subject to later adjustment, if need be, by discharge or repayment of tax or by a further assessment if for that year corporation tax is not charged by an Act of Parliament passed not later than 5th August next after the end of the year or is charged otherwise than as it has been assessed. (5) Where the House of Commons passes a resolution for fixing the rate of corporation tax for any financial year or for altering the tax for any financial year, then any assessment to tax afterwards made by virtue of subsection (4) above may be made in accordance with the resolution; but no assessment made by virtue of that subsection later than 5th May next after the end of any financial year shall charge tax for that year, unless a resolution for charging corporation tax for that year has been so passed, nor shall any assessment be made by virtue of any such resolution later than the prescribed period from the date on which the resolution is passed. (6) In subsection (5) above "the prescribed period" means
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Computation of income: application of income tax principles. | 9.(1) Except as otherwise provided by the Tax Acts, the amount of any income shall for purposes of corporation tax be computed in accordance with income tax principles, all questions as to the amounts which are or are not to be taken into account as income, or in computing income, or charged to tax as a person's income, or as to the time when any such amount is to be treated as arising, being determined in accordance with income tax law and practice as if accounting periods were years of assessment. (2) For the purposes of this section "income tax law" means, in relation to any accounting period, the law applying, for the year of assessment in which the period ends, to the charge on individuals of income tax, except that it does not include such of the enactments of the Income Tax Acts as make special provision for individuals in relation to matters referred to in subsection (1) above. (3) Accordingly, for purposes of corporation tax, income shall be computed, and the assessment shall be made, under the like Schedules and Cases as apply for purposes of income tax, and in accordance with the provisions applicable to those Schedules and Cases, but (subject to the provisions of the Corporation Tax Acts) the amounts so computed for the several sources of income, if more than one, together with any amount to be included in respect of chargeable gains, shall be aggregated to arrive at the total profits. (4) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) above, any provision of the Income Tax Acts which confers an exemption from income tax, or which provides for a person to be charged to income tax on any amount (whether expressed to be income or not, and whether an actual amount or not), shall, except as otherwise provided, have the like effect for purposes of corporation tax. (5) Where, by virtue of this section or otherwise, any enactment applies both to income tax and to corporation tax
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Time for payment of tax. | 10.(1) Except as provided by section 478
(3) If, with respect to any accounting period
(4) If, apart from this subsection, a claim would fall to be made under subsection (3) above at a time when the company concerned has appealed against such an assessment as is referred to in paragraph (b) of that subsection but that appeal has not been finally determined, that subsection shall have effect as if, for the words from "make a claim" to "excess", there were substituted "apply to the Commissioners to whom the appeal stands referred for a determination of the amount which should be repaid to the company pending a determination of the company's liability for the accounting period in question" and such an application shall be determined in the same way as the appeal. (5) Where on an appeal against an assessment to corporation tax a company makes an application under section 55(3) or (4) of the Management Act (postponement of tax charged but not paid etc.), that application may be combined with an application under subsections (3) and (4) above (relating to tax which was paid prior to the assessment). | ||||||||
Companies not resident in United Kingdom. | 11.(1) A company not resident in the United Kingdom shall not be within the charge to corporation tax unless it carries on a trade in the United Kingdom through a branch or agency but, if it does so, it shall, subject to any exceptions provided for by the Corporation Tax Acts, be chargeable to corporation tax on all its chargeable profits wherever arising. (2) For purposes of corporation tax the chargeable profits of a company not resident in the United Kingdom but carrying on a trade there through a branch or agency shall be
(4) Subsection (3) above does not apply to a payment of relevant loan interest to which section 369 applies. | ||||||||
Basis of, and periods for, assessment. | 12.(1) Except as otherwise provided by the Corporation Tax Acts, corporation tax shall be assessed and charged for any accounting period of a company on the full amount of the profits arising in the period (whether or not received in or transmitted to the United Kingdom) without any other deduction than is authorised by those Acts. (2) An accounting period of a company shall begin for purposes of corporation tax whenever
(5) If a company carrying on more than one trade makes up accounts of any of them to different dates, and does not make up general accounts for the whole of the company's activities, subsection (3)(b) above shall apply with reference to the accounting date of such one of the trades as the Board may determine. (6) If a chargeable gain or allowable loss accrues to a company at a time not otherwise within an accounting period of the company, an accounting period of the company shall then begin for the purposes of corporation tax, and the gain or loss shall accrue in that accounting period. (7) Notwithstanding anything in subsections (1) to (6) above, where a company is wound up, an accounting period shall end and a new one begin with the commencement of the winding up, and thereafter, subject to section 342(6), an accounting period shall not end otherwise than by the expiration of 12 months from its beginning or by the completion of the winding up.
(8) Where it appears to the inspector that the beginning or end of any accounting period of a company is uncertain, he may make an assessment on the company for such period, not exceeding 12 months, as appears to him appropriate, and that period shall be treated for all purposes as an accounting period of the company unless either
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Small companies' relief. | 13.(1) Where in any accounting period the profits of a company resident in the United Kingdom do not exceed the lower relevant maximum amount, the company may claim that the corporation tax charged on its basic profits for that period shall be calculated as if the rate of corporation tax (instead of being the rate fixed for companies generally) were such lower rate (to be known as the "small companies' rate") as Parliament may from time to time determine. (2) Where in any accounting period the profits of any such company exceed the lower relevant maximum amount but do not exceed the upper relevant maximum amount, the company may claim that the corporation tax charged on its basic profits for that period shall be reduced by a sum equal to such fraction as Parliament may from time to time determine of the following amount
(3) The lower and upper relevant maximum amounts mentioned above shall be determined as follows
(5) In determining how many associated companies a company has got in an accounting period or whether a company has an associated company in an accounting period, an associated company shall be counted even if it was an associated company for part only of the accounting period, and two or more associated companies shall be counted even if they were associated companies for different parts of the accounting period. (6) For an accounting period of less than 12 months the relevant maximum amounts determined in accordance with subsection (3) above shall be proportionately reduced. (7) For the purposes of this section the profits (but not the basic profits) of a company for an accounting period shall be taken to be the amount of its profits for that period on which corporation tax falls finally to be borne, with the addition of franked investment income other than franked investment income which the company (if a member of a group) receives from companies within the group; and for this purpose distributions received by the company from another are to be treated as coming from within the company's group if, but only if, dividends so received are group income or would be group income if the companies so elected. (8) For the purposes of this section the basic profits of a company for an accounting period shall be taken to be the amount of its profits for that period on which corporation tax falls finally to be borne. (9) Any power which the inspector may exercise under paragraph 17 of Schedule 19 may be exercised by him for the purposes of this section. | ||||||||
Advance corporation tax and qualifying distributions. | 14.(1) Subject to section 247, where a company resident in the United Kingdom makes a qualifying distribution it shall be liable to pay an amount of corporation tax ("advance corporation tax") in accordance with subsection (3) below. (2) In this Act "qualifying distribution" means any distribution other than
(4) The provisions of this Act as to the charge, calculation and payment of corporation tax (including provisions conferring any exemption) shall not be construed as affecting the charge, calculation or payment of advance corporation tax, and the Corporation Tax Acts shall apply for the purposes of advance corporation tax whether or not they are for the time being applicable for the purposes of corporation tax other than advance corporation tax. (5) Part VI contains further provisions relating to advance corporation tax and company distributions. | ||||||||
Schedule A. | 15.(1) The Schedule referred to as Schedule A is as follows: SCHEDULE A | ||||||||
1. Tax under this Schedule shall be charged on the annual profits or gains arising in respect of any such rents or receipts as follows, that is to say
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2. Tax under this Schedule shall be charged by reference to the rents or receipts to which a person becomes entitled in the chargeable period. | |||||||||
3. Paragraph 1 above does not apply
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4. Where rent is payable under a lease under which the tenant is entitled to the use of furniture and tax in respect of the payment for its use is chargeable under Case VI of Schedule D, tax in respect of the rent shall be charged under that Case instead of under this Schedule unless the landlord elects that this paragraph shall not apply.(2) An election that paragraph 4 of Schedule A shall not apply shall be made by notice to the inspector given within two years after the end of the chargeable period; and where such notice is given, any adjustment of the liability to tax of the person giving it which is required in consequence thereof may be made by an assessment or by repayment or otherwise as the case may require. (3) Profits or gains arising in any chargeable period from payments for any easement over or right to use any land made to the person who occupies the land shall not be excluded from the charge to tax under Schedule A by reason only that he is chargeable with respect to the land under Schedule B, but shall be treated for the purposes of Schedule A as limited to the amount (if any) by which they exceed the assessable value for the purposes of Schedule B of his occupation of the land in that period. (4) Part II contains further provisions relating to the charge to tax under Schedule A. | |||||||||
Schedule B. | 16.(1) The Schedule referred to as Schedule B is as follows: SCHEDULE B | ||||||||
1. Tax under this Schedule shall be charged in respect of the occupation of woodlands in the United Kingdom managed on a commercial basis and with a view to the realisation of profits. | |||||||||
2. Paragraph 1 above has effect subject to the right given by section 54 to elect for assessment under Schedule D.(2) Tax under Schedule B shall be charged on the occupier of the woodlands on the assessable value of his occupation in the chargeable period, and the amount on which he is chargeable shall be deemed for all tax purposes to be income arising from that occupation. (3) For the purposes of tax under Schedule B
(5) A person who, in connection with any trade carried on by him, has the use of any woodlands wholly or mainly for the purpose of
(6) Subsection (5) above shall not apply where the use in question began before 14th March 1984. | |||||||||
Schedule C. | 17.(1) The Schedule referred to as Schedule C is as follows: SCHEDULE C | ||||||||
1. Tax under this Schedule shall be charged in respect of all profits arising from public revenue dividends payable in the United Kingdom in any chargeable period. | |||||||||
2. Tax under this Schedule shall also be charged in respect of profits arising from public revenue dividends payable in the Republic of Ireland in any chargeable period, being dividends on securities of the United Kingdom government entered in the register of the Bank of Ireland in Dublin. | |||||||||
3. Where a banker or any other person in the United Kingdom obtains payment of any overseas public revenue dividends by means of coupons received from any other person or otherwise on his behalf, tax under this Schedule shall be charged in respect of the dividends. | |||||||||
4. Where
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5. Notwithstanding anything in paragraphs 1 to 4 above but subject to paragraph 6 below, where any half-yearly payment in respect of any dividend entrusted to the Bank of England or the Bank of Ireland for payment and distribution or which is payable by the National Debt Commissioners or of which they have the distribution does not exceed £2.50, it shall not be charged under this Schedule, but shall be assessed and charged under Case III of Schedule D. | |||||||||
6. Paragraph 5 above does not apply to any payment obtained by means of a coupon in respect of a bond to bearer or stock certificate.(2) Part III contains further provisions relating to the charge to tax under Schedule C and to government securities; and section 45 shall apply for the interpretation of Schedule C. | |||||||||
Schedule D. | 18.(1) The Schedule referred to as Schedule D is as follows: SCHEDULE D | ||||||||
Tax under this Schedule shall be charged in respect of
(3) The Cases are
(5) Part IV contains further provisions relating to the charge to tax under Schedule D. | |||||||||
Schedule E. | 19.(1) The Schedule referred to as Schedule E is as follows: SCHEDULE E | ||||||||
1. Tax under this Schedule shall be charged in respect of any office or employment on emoluments therefrom which fall under one or more than one of the following Cases
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2. Tax under this Schedule shall be charged in respect of every annuity, pension or stipend payable by the Crown or out of the public revenue of the United Kingdom or of Northern Ireland, other than annuities charged under Schedule C. | |||||||||
3. Tax under this Schedule shall also be charged in respect of any pension which is paid otherwise than by or on behalf of a person outside the United Kingdom. | |||||||||
4. Where
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5. The preceding provisions of this Schedule are without prejudice to any other provision of the Tax Acts directing tax to be charged under this Schedule and tax so directed to be charged shall be charged accordingly.(2) References in the Tax Acts to Cases I, II and III of Schedule E shall be taken as referring to the Cases under which tax is chargeable under paragraph 1 of that Schedule. (3) Part V contains further provisions relating to the charge to tax under Schedule E. | |||||||||
Schedule F. | 20.(1) The Schedule referred to as Schedule F is as follows: SCHEDULE F | ||||||||
1. Subject to section 95(1)(a), income tax under this Schedule shall be chargeable for any year of assessment in respect of all dividends and other distributions in that year of a company resident in the United Kingdom which are not specially excluded from income tax, and for the purposes of income tax all such distributions shall be regarded as income however they fall to be dealt with in the hands of the recipient. | |||||||||
2. For the purposes of this Schedule and all other purposes of the Tax Acts any such distribution in respect of which a person is entitled to a tax credit shall be treated as representing income equal to the aggregate of the amount or value of that distribution and the amount of that credit, and income tax under this Schedule shall accordingly be charged on that aggregate.(2) No distribution which is chargeable under Schedule F shall be chargeable under any other provision of the Income Tax Acts. (3) Part VI contains further provisions relating to company distributions and tax credits. | |||||||||
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| Prepared 20th September 2000 |

























