Oil Taxation Act 1975

3 Allowance of expenditure (other than expenditure on long-term assets and abortive exploration expenditure). U.K.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section and Schedules 4, 5 and 6 to this Act, the expenditure allowable under this section for any oil field is any expenditure (whether or not of a capital nature) which, not being expenditure to which section 4 of this Act applies, is incurred by a person at or before the time when he is a participator in the field to the extent [F1 subject to subsection (7) below] that it is incurred for one or more of the following purposes, namely—

(a) searching for oil anywhere within the area of the field as subsequently determined under Schedule 1 to this Act or not more than 5,000 metres beyond the boundary of that area;

(b) making to the Secretary of State any payment under or for the purpose of obtaining a relevant licence, not being a payment by way of royalty or other periodic payment;

(c) ascertaining (whether before or after the determination of the field under Schedule 1 to this Act) the extent or characteristics of any oil-bearing area wholly or partly included in the field, or what the reserves of oil of any such oil-bearing area are;

(d) winning oil from the field;

(e) measuring the quantity of oil won or to be won from the field;

(f) in the case of oil won from the field that was so won from strata in the sea bed and subsoil of either the territorial sea of the United Kingdom or a designated area, transporting it to the place where it is first landed in the United Kingdom [F2 or to the place in the United Kingdom at which the seller in a sale at arm’s length could reasonably be expected to deliver it or, if there is more than one place at which he could reasonably be expected to deliver it, the one nearest to the place of extraction];

(g) the initial treatment or initial storage of oil won from the field;

(h) disposing of any oil won from the field which is disposed of crude in sales at arm’s length;

(i) closing down the field or any part of it, but only if and to the extent that the expenditure is incurred for the purposes of safety or the prevention of pollution.

(2) Subject to the following provisions of this section and Schedules 4, 5 and 6 to this Act, where any amount is under subsection (2) of section [F3 579] of the Taxes Act (statutory redundancy payments) allowable as a deduction in computing for any accounting period the profits or losses of the relevant trade carried on by a person who was in that period a participator in an oil field, or would be so allowable under that subsection if it were not otherwise so allowable, then that amount less the amount of the rebate recoverable (within the meaning of that subsection) shall be expenditure allowable under this section for that field.

In this subsection “the relevant trade”, in relation to a participator in an oil field, means the separate trade which by virtue of subsection (1) of section [F4 492 of the Taxes Act] consists of activities carried on by him that fall within paragraph (a) or (b) of that subsection or which would have so consisted if that subsection had additionally had effect as regards all past chargeable periods (within the meaning of the Taxes Acts).

(3) Expenditure is not allowable under this section for any oil field if, or to the extent that, it has been allowed under Schedule 5 or 6 to this Act for any other oil field or has been allowed under Schedule 7 to this Act in connection with any oil field [F5 but where expenditure allowable under section 5A [F6 or section 5B] of this Act has been allowed on a claim under Schedule 7 to this Act, nothing in this subsection shall prevent a claim being made for an allowance under this section in respect of the same expenditure unless the person making the claim is the participator who made the claim under that Schedule].

(4) The expenditure allowable under this section for any oil field does not include—

(a) expenditure in respect of interest or any other pecuniary obligation incurred in obtaining a loan or any other form of credit; or

(b) the cost of acquiring any land or interest in land, other than the cost of making to the Secretary of State any payment falling within subsection (1)(b) above; or

(c) the cost of acquiring or erecting any building or structure on land, except—

(i) a structure to be subsequently placed on the sea bed of either the territorial sea of the United Kingdom or a designated area; or

(ii) a building or structure used or to be used wholly in the process of winning oil from strata in or under land or of measuring the quantity of oil won or to be won from such strata; or

(iii) a building or structure used or to be used for initial treatment or initial storage of oil; or

[F7 (iv) a building or structure used or to be used for transporting such oil as is mentioned in subsection (1)(f) above from the place where it is first landed in the United Kingdom to the place in the United Kingdom at which the seller in a sale at arm’s length could reasonably be expected to deliver it or, if there is more than one place at which he could reasonably be expected to deliver it, the one nearest to the place of extraction; or]

(d) any expenditure wholly or partly depending on or determined by reference to the quantity, value or proceeds of, or the profits from, oil won from the field; . . . F8

(e) any payment made for the purpose of obtaining a direct or indirect interest in oil won or to be won from the field, other than a payment made to the Secretary of State; [F9 or]

[F10 (f) any payment made in pursuance of a notice under paragraph 4 of Schedule 15 to the Finance Act 1973 (provisions supplementing the territorial extension of charge to tax under section 38 of that Act);]

but nothing in paragraph (e) above shall be taken to apply to a payment made by a participator in pursuance of a contract whereby expenditure incurred for any of the purposes mentioned in subsection (1) above is to be shared between that participator and any of the other participators in the field.

(5) [F11 Subject to subsection (5A) below] expenditure allowable under this section for an oil field qualifies for supplement under section 2(9)(b)(ii) or (c)(ii) of this Act if and to the extent that it is incurred for one or more of the following purposes, namely—

(a) bringing about the commencement of the winning of oil from the field or the commencement of the transporting of oil won from it to the United Kingdom;

(b) ascertaining (whether before or after the determination of the field under Schedule 1 to the Act) any of the matters mentioned in subsection (1)(c) above;

(c) carrying out works for, or acquiring an asset or an interest in an asset to be used for the purpose of, substantially improving the rate at which oil can be won or transported to the United Kingdom from the field, or preventing or substantially reducing a decline in that rate; or

(d) providing any installation for the initial treatment or initial storage of oil won from the field;

but expenditure incurred in hiring an asset shall not so qualify unless the asset is used in carrying out works for a purpose mentioned in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) above or works for the provision of any such installation as is mentioned in paragraph (d) above.

[F12 (5A) Where expenditure incurred in relation to an asset is incurred—

(a) in part for one of the purposes specified in subsection (5) above (or for what would be one of those purposes if section 10(2) below were disregarded), and

(b) in part for the purpose of enabling the asset to be used in a way giving rise to tariff receipts within the meaning of the Oil Taxation Act 1983,

then, to the extent that the expenditure is incurred for the purpose mentioned in paragraph (b) above, it shall be treated for the purposes of this Part of this Act as incurred for one of the purposes specified in subsection (5) above.]

(6) For the purposes of subsections (1) and (5) above expenditure incurred partly for one or more of the purposes there mentioned and partly not shall [F11 subject to subsection (7) below] be apportioned in such manner as is just and reasonable.

[F12 (7) In any case where—

(a) expenditure which is incurred by any person as mentioned in subsection (6) above is so incurred in connection with a long-term asset, and

(b) the long-term asset gives rise to receipts which, for the purposes of the Oil Taxation Act 1983, are tariff receipts of that person attributable to the field for which any of that expenditure is so allowable,

then, so far as relates to that field, in making in accordance with subsection (6) above any apportionment for the purposes of either or both of subsections (1) and (5) above, the whole of the relevant expenditure shall be apportioned to one or more of the purposes mentioned in that subsection or, as the case may be, those subsections.

(8) In subsection (7) above—

(a) “long-term asset” means an asset whose useful life continues after the end of the claim period for which a claim is first made for an allowance in respect of expenditure incurred in connection with the asset; and

(b) “relevant expenditure” means that portion of the expenditure in connection with the asset which is reasonably attributable to the use of the asset which gives rise to the receipts referred to in subsection (7)(b) above.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Words inserted by Oil Taxation Act 1983 (c. 56), s. 5(1)(a) with respect to expenditure incurred after 30 June 1982

F2 Words inserted by Finance (No. 2) Act 1979 (c. 47), s. 20(1) in relation to expenditure claimed after 31 December 1978

F3 Figure substituted by Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 (c. 1, SIF 63:1), Sch. 29 para. 32

F4 Words substituted by Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 (c. 1, SIF 63:1), Sch. 29 para. 32

F5 Words inserted by Finance Act 1983 (c. 49), s. 37(2) and Sch. 8 Part II para. 2

F6 Words inserted by Finance Act 1987 (c. 16), s. 64(2) and Sch. 13 Part II para. 2

F7 S. 3(4)(c)(iv) added by Finance Act 1981 (c. 35), s. 119(1) in relation to any expenditure claimed after 31 December 1978

F8 Word repealed by Finance Act 1984 (c. 43), ss. 124(7), 128(6) and Sch. 23 Part XIV

F9 Word added by Finance Act 1984 (c. 43), s. 124(7)

F10 S. 3(4)(f) added by Finance Act 1984 (c. 43), s. 124(7)

F11 Words inserted by Oil Taxation Act 1983 (c. 56), s. 5 with respect to expenditure incurred after 30 June 1982

F12 S. 3(5A)(7)(8) inserted by Oil Taxation Act 1983 (c. 56), s. 5 with respect to expenditure incurred after 30 June 1982

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 See Oil Taxation Act 1983 (c. 56), Sch. 1 para. 3 and Sch. 4 para. 10

C2 See Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 (c. 1, SIF 63:1), s. 495

C3 See Oil Taxation Act 1983 (c. 56), s. 3(6)

C4 See Finance Act 1980 (c. 48), s. 106 and Sch. 17

C5 See Finance Act 1980 (c. 48), s. 109 regarding fractionation expenditure incurred after 31 December 1979