Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988

361 Loan to buy interest in co-operative or employee-controlled company

(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section and sections 363 and 364, interest is eligible for relief under section 353 if it is interest on a loan to an individual to defray money applied—

(a) in acquiring a share or shares in a body which is a co-operative as defined by section 363(5); or

(b) in lending money to any such body which is used wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the business of that body or of a subsidiary of that body; or

(c) in paying off another loan interest on which would have been eligible for relief under section 353 had the loan not been paid off (on the assumption, if it was free of interest, that it carried interest);

and the conditions in subsection (2) below are satisfied.

(2) The conditions referred to in subsection (1) above are—

(a) that the loan was made after 10th March 1981;

(b) that, when the interest is paid, the body continues to be a co-operative; and

(c) that in the period from the application of the proceeds of the loan to the payment of the interest the individual has worked for the greater part of his time as an employee of the body or of a subsidiary of the body; and

(d) that he shows that in that period he has not recovered any capital from the body apart from any taken into account under section 363(1).

(3) Subject to sections 362 to 365, interest is eligible for relief under section 353 if it is interest on a loan to an individual to defray money applied—

(a) in acquiring any part of the ordinary share capital of an employee-controlled company; or

(b) in paying off another loan, interest on which would have been eligible for relief under section 353 had the loan not been paid off (on the assumption, if it was free of interest, that it carried interest);

and the conditions stated in subsection (4) below are satisfied.

(4) The conditions referred to in subsection (3) above are that—

(a) the company is, throughout the period beginning with the date on which the shares are acquired and ending with the date on which the interest is paid—

(i) an unquoted company resident in the United Kingdom and not resident elsewhere; and

(ii) a trading company or the holding company of a trading group;

(b) the shares are acquired before, or not later than 12 months after, the date on which the company first becomes an employee-controlled company;

(c) during the year of assessment in which the interest is paid the company either—

(i) first becomes an employee-controlled company; or

(ii) is such a company throughout a period of at least nine months;

(d) the individual or his spouse is a full-time employee of the company throughout the period beginning with the date on which the proceeds of the loan are applied and ending with the date on which the interest is paid or, if at that date he has ceased to be such an employee, ending with whichever is the later of—

(i) the date on which he ceased to be such an employee;

(ii) the date 12 months before the payment of the interest; and

(e) the individual shows that in the period from the application of the proceeds of the loan to the payment of the interest he has not recovered any capital from the company, apart from any amount taken into account under section 363(1).

(5) For the purposes of this section a company is employee-controlled at any time when more than 50 per cent.—

(a) of the issued ordinary share capital of the company, and

(b) of the voting power in the company,

is beneficially owned by persons who, or whose spouses, are full-time employees of the company.

(6) Where an individual owns beneficially, or he and his spouse together own beneficially, more than 10 per cent. of the issued ordinary share capital of, or voting power in, a company, the excess shall be treated for the purposes of subsection (5) above as being owned by an individual who is neither a full-time employee of the company nor the spouse of such an employee.

(7) Where an individual and his spouse are both full-time employees of the company, subsection (6) above shall apply in relation to them with the omission of the words “or he and his spouse together own beneficially”.

(8) In this section—

• “full-time employee”, in relation to a company, means a person who works for the greater part of his time as an employee or director of the company or of a 51 per cent. subsidiary of the company;

• “holding company” means a company whose business (disregarding any trade carried on by it) consists wholly or mainly of the holding of shares or securities of one or more companies which are its 75 per cent. subsidiaries;

• “trading company” means a company whose business consists wholly or mainly of the carrying on of a trade or trades;

• “trading group” means a group the business of whose members taken together consists wholly or mainly of the carrying on of a trade or trades, and for this purpose “group” means a company which has one or more 75 per cent. subsidiaries together with those subsidiaries; and

• “unquoted company” means a company none of whose shares are listed in the Official List of the Stock Exchange.