Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988

780 Sale and lease-back: taxation of consideration received

(1) If, in any case where a person (“the lessee”) who is a lessee of land under a lease having not more than 50 years to run (“the original lease”) is entitled in respect of the rent under the lease to a deduction by way of tax relief which is a relevant tax relief for the purposes of section 779—

(a) the lessee assigns the original lease to another person, or surrenders it to his landlord, for a consideration which apart from this section would not be taxable otherwise than as capital in the hands of the lessee, and

(b) there is granted or assigned to the lessee another lease (“the new lease”) of or including the whole or any part of the land which was the subject of the original lease for a term not exceeding 15 years;

then, subject to the following provisions of this section, the provisions of this Act providing for deductions or allowances by way of tax relief in respect of payments of rent shall apply in relation to the rent under the new lease, and for the purposes of the Tax Acts a proportion of the consideration received by the lessee shall be treated not as a capital receipt but in accordance with subsection (3) below.

(2) For the purposes of this section—

(a) if the aggregate of the rent payable under the new lease in respect of any rental period ending on a date falling before the 15th anniversary of the date on which the term of the new lease begins is greater than the aggregate of the rent payable under the new lease in respect of the period of equal duration beginning on the day following that date, then unless the term of the new lease would be treated as ending on an earlier date by virtue of paragraph (b) below, that term shall be treated as ending on that date;

(b) if under the terms of the new lease —

(i) the lessor or the lessee has power to determine the new lease at a time before the expiry of the term for which it was granted, or

(ii) the lessee has power to vary his obligations under the new lease so as to reduce the rent which he would otherwise have to pay or in any other manner beneficial to him,

then, unless the term of the new lease would be treated as ending on an earlier date by virtue of paragraph (a) above, that term shall be treated as ending on the earliest date with effect from which, in exercise of that power, the lessor or the lessee could determine the new lease or, as the case may be, the lessee could so vary his obligations;

and in any case where a rentcharge payable by the lessee is secured on the whole or any part of the property which is the subject of the new lease, the rent payable under the new lease shall be treated for the purposes of paragraphs (a) and (b) above as equal to the aggregate of the rentcharge and the rent payable under the terms of that lease.

(3) Subject to the following provisions of this section, the proportion of the consideration received by the lessee as mentioned in subsection (1) above, or of any instalment of that consideration, which for the purposes of the Tax Acts is to be treated not as a capital receipt but in accordance with this subsection shall be determined by the formula—

where N is the term of the new lease expressed in years or, if that term is less than a year, where N is 1; and that proportion shall be treated for the purposes of the Tax Acts—

(a)

as a receipt of a trade, profession or vocation, if the rent payable by the lessee under the new lease is allowable as a deduction in computing profits or gains or losses of a trade, profession or vocation for the purposes of tax and if the consideration is received by the lessee in the course of that trade, profession or vocation; and

(b)

in any other case, as a profit or gain chargeable under Case VI of Schedule D.

(4) In any case where the property which is the subject of the new lease does not include the whole of the property which was the subject of the original lease, the consideration received by the lessee shall be treated for the purposes of subsection (3) above as reduced to that portion of the consideration which is reasonably attributable to such part of the property which was the subject of the original lease as consists of, or is included in, the property which is the subject of the new lease.

(5) Schedule 2 shall have effect for the purposes of giving relief, on a claim being made in that behalf, from any increase in an individual’s liability to income tax which is attributable to any amount being treated, by virtue of subsection (3) above, as an income receipt for a single year of assessment rather than as a series of such receipts during the term of the new lease; and in the application of that Schedule by virtue of this subsection for the definitions of “chargeable sum” and “relevant period” there shall be substituted the following definitions—

• “chargeable sum” means the amount in respect of which, by virtue of subsection (3) above, the claimant is chargeable to income tax for the year of assessment;

• “relevant period”, in relation to any chargeable sum, means the term of the new lease.

(6) Where by agreement with his landlord, the lessee varies the terms of the original lease in such a manner that, in return for such a consideration as is specified in subsection (1)(a) above, the lessee undertakes to pay, during a period ending not later than 15 years after the date on which the consideration, or if the consideration is paid in instalments, the last such instalment, is paid to the lessee, a rent greater than that payable under the original lease, he shall be treated for the purposes of this section—

(a) as having surrendered the original lease for that consideration, and

(b) as having been granted a new lease for a term not exceeding 15 years but otherwise on the terms of the original lease as so varied.

(7) References in this section to the lessee (other than in subsection (1)(a) above) include references to a person who is a partner or associate of the lessee or an associate of a partner of the lessee; and for the purposes of this section the expression “associate” shall be construed in accordance with 783(10).

(8) Subject to subsection (7) above, expressions used in this section have the meanings assigned to them by section 24, and in subsection (2)(a) above “rental period” means a period in respect of which a payment of rent falls to be made, and for the purposes of that subsection, in a case where the rental period is a quarter or a month, each such period shall be treated as of equal duration.

(9) The preceding provisions of this section shall not apply if the lessee had, before 22nd June 1971, a right enforceable at law or in equity to the grant of the new lease, but in any case where, apart from this subsection, those provisions would apply, no part of the rent paid under the new lease shall be treated as a payment of capital, and the provisions of this Act providing for deductions or allowances by way of tax relief in respect of payments of rent shall apply accordingly.