Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988

814 Arrangements to avoid section 812

(1) In any case where arrangements are made, whether before or after the coming into force of this section, as a result of which interest is paid or a discount is allowed by or through a person who is resident in the United Kingdom, or carries on business in the United Kingdom through a branch or agency, and it is reasonable to suppose that, if such payment or allowance had not been made, a qualifying distribution would have been made by that person, or by another company resident in the United Kingdom to a company which has, or is an associated company of a company which has, a qualifying presence in a unitary state at the time when the payment or allowance is made, then—

(a) no person who receives that payment or allowance shall be entitled to relief from income tax or corporation tax thereon by virtue of arrangements having effect under section 788(1); and

(b) the payment or allowance shall not be allowed as a deduction in computing any income, profits or losses for any tax purposes.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) above, where a payment or allowance is not of itself a payment or allowance to which that subsection applies, but is made in conjunction with other payments of whatever nature and taken together with those payments has substantially similar effect to a distribution, then, for the purposes of subsection (1) above it shall be treated as a payment or allowance within that subsection.

(3) Any company which has received such a payment of interest as is referred to in subsection (1) above, from which income tax has not been deducted by the person making the payment, and has a qualifying presence in a unitary state at the time of the payment, shall be treated for the purposes of section 813 as a company—

(a) from which the entitlement to claim payment of the excess of a tax credit over the income tax chargeable on its income has been withdrawn by section 812(1), and

(b) which has had paid to it such an excess in an amount equal to the income tax which should have been deducted from the payment of interest.