Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988

492 Treatment of oil extraction activities etc. for tax purposes

(1) Where a person carries on as part of a trade—

(a) any oil extraction activities; or

(b) any of the following activities, namely, the acquisition, enjoyment or exploitation of oil rights; or

(c) activities of both those descriptions,

those activities shall be treated for all purposes of income tax, and for the purposes of the charge of corporation tax on income, as a separate trade, distinct from all other activities carried on by him as part of the trade.

(2) Relief in respect of a loss incurred by a person shall not be given under section 380 or 381 against income arising from oil extraction activities or from oil rights (“ring fence income”) except to the extent that the loss arises from such activities or rights.

(3) Relief in respect of a loss incurred by a person shall not be given under section 393(2) against his ring fence profits except to the extent that the loss arises from oil extraction activities or from oil rights.

(4) In any case where—

(a) in any chargeable period a person incurs a loss in activities (“separate activities”) which, for that or any subsequent chargeable period, are treated by virtue of subsection (1) above as a separate trade for the purposes specified in that subsection; and

(b) in any subsequent chargeable period any of his trading income is derived from activities (“related activities”) which are not part of the separate activities but which, apart from subsection (1) above, would together with those activities constitute a single trade,

then, notwithstanding anything in that subsection, the amount of the loss may be set off, in accordance with section 385 or 393(1), against so much of his trading income in any subsequent chargeable period as is derived from the related activities.

(5) Subject to subsection (7) below, a capital allowance which is to be given to any person by discharge or repayment of tax shall not to any extent be given effect under section 71 of the 1968 Act by deduction from or set off against his ring fence income.

(6) Subject to subsection (7) below, a capital allowance which is to be given to any person by discharge or repayment of tax shall not to any extent be given effect under section 74 of the 1968 Act by deduction from or set off against his ring fence profits.

(7) Subsection (5) or (6) above shall not apply to a capital allowance which falls to be made to a company for any accounting period in respect of an asset used in the relevant accounting period by a company associated with it and so used in carrying on oil extraction activities.

For the purposes of this subsection, the relevant accounting period is that in which the allowance in question first falls to be made to the company (whether or not it can to any extent be given effect in that period under section 74(1) of the 1968 Act).

(8) On a claim for group relief made by a claimant company in relation to a surrendering company, group relief shall not be allowed against the claimant company’s ring fence profits except to the extent that the claim relates to losses incurred by the surrendering company that arose from oil extraction activities or from oil rights.