Capital Allowances Act 1990 (repealed)

[F1 Expenditure to which Chapter applies U.K.

Textual Amendments

F1 Pt. 2 Ch. 4A inserted (with application in accordance with Sch. 14 para. 10 of the amending Act) by Finance Act 1997 (c. 16), Sch. 14 para. 2

38A Application of Chapter. U.K.

(1) Subject to sections 38B to 38D and 38H, this Chapter applies to any capital expenditure incurred by a person on the provision of machinery or plant if that machinery or plant is a long-life asset.

(2) For the purposes of this Chapter machinery or plant is a long-life asset if—

(a) in the case of machinery or plant that is new, it is reasonable to expect that the machinery or plant will have a useful economic life of at least twenty-five years; or

(b) in any other case, it was reasonable, when the machinery or plant was new, to expect that it would have a useful economic life of at least twenty-five years.

(3) For the purposes of this section the useful economic life of machinery or plant is the period which—

(a) begins with the first occasion on which the machinery or plant is brought into use by any person for any purpose; and

(b) continues until the machinery or plant ceases to be machinery or plant that is or is likely to be used (whether or not by the person who first brought it into use and whether or not in a manner in which he used it) as a fixed asset of a business.

(4) Where, by virtue of any of the following provisions of this Chapter, this Chapter applies to part only of the expenditure incurred by any person on the provision of any long-life asset, this Act shall have effect in relation to that expenditure as if the part to which this Chapter applies and the part to which it does not were, in each case, expenditure on a separate item of machinery or plant.

(5) For the purposes of subsection (4) above all such apportionments shall be made as may be just and reasonable.

38B Expenditure excluded from the application of the Chapter. U.K.

(1) This Chapter does not apply to expenditure on the provision of machinery or plant which is a fixture in, or is provided for use in, any building used wholly or mainly—

(a) as a dwelling-house, retail shop, showroom, hotel or office; or

(b) for purposes ancillary to the purposes of a dwelling-house, retail shop, showroom, hotel or office.

(2) This Chapter does not apply to any expenditure on the provision of—

(a) a motor car; or

(b) a mechanically propelled road vehicle which would be a motor car but for section 36(1)(c).

(3) This Chapter does not apply to any expenditure incurred before 1st January 2011 on the provision of a ship of a sea-going kind if each of the following conditions is satisfied—

(a) that ship is not an offshore installation for the purposes of the Mineral Workings (Offshore Installations) Act 1971;

(b) that ship would not be such an installation if the activity for the carrying on of which it is or is to be established or maintained were carried on in or under controlled waters (within the meaning of that Act); and

(c) the primary use to which ships of the same kind as that ship are put by the persons to whom they belong (or, where their use is made available to others, by those others) is a use otherwise than for sport or recreation.

(4) This Chapter does not apply to any expenditure incurred before 1st January 2011 on the provision of a railway asset provided for use (whether by the person incurring the expenditure or by any other person) wholly and exclusively for the purposes of a railway business.

(5) In this section—

• “fixture” has the same meaning as in Chapter VI of this Part;

• “goods” has the same meaning as in Part I of the Railways Act 1993;

• “light maintenance depot” means—

  (a)

  any light maintenance depot within the meaning of Part I of the Railways Act 1993, or

  (b)

  any land or other property which, in relation to anything which is a railway only where “railway” has the wider meaning given by section 81(2) of that Act, is the equivalent of such a depot;

• “railway” has the wider meaning given by section 81(2) of the Railways Act 1993 (which defines railway so as to include tramways and other systems of guided transport);

• “railway asset” means any of the following—

  (a)

  any locomotive, tram or other vehicle designed or adapted for use on a railway;

  (b)

  any carriage, wagon or other rolling stock designed or adapted for such use;

  (c)

  anything which is or is to be comprised in any railway track, railway station or light maintenance depot; and

  (d)

  any apparatus falling to be installed in association with anything within paragraph (c) above;

• “railway business” means so much of any business as is carried on for the provision of a service to the public for the carriage of goods or passengers by means of a railway in the United Kingdom or the Channel Tunnel;

• “railway station” includes anything included in the definition of “station” in section 83 of the Railways Act 1993 and anything that would be so included if, in that section, “railway” had the wider meaning given by section 81(2) of that Act;

• “railway track” includes anything included in the definition of “track” in section 83 of the Railways Act 1993 and anything that would be so included if, in that section, “railway” had the wider meaning given by section 81(2) of that Act;

• “retail shop” includes any premises of a similar character where retail trade or business (including repair work) is carried on.

(6) For the purposes of subsection (4) above a railway asset falling within paragraph (a) or (b) of the definition in subsection (5) above shall not be treated as used otherwise than wholly and exclusively for the purposes of a railway business by reason only that it is used to carry goods or passengers from places in the United Kingdom to places outside the United Kingdom or vice versa.

38C Exclusion of Chapter where limit for individuals and partnerships not exceeded. U.K.

(1) Subject to section 38F(3), this Chapter does not apply to any expenditure incurred by an individual, or by a partnership of which all the members are individuals, unless that expenditure is—

(a) expenditure incurred in a chargeable period the relevant limit for which is exceeded in the case of that individual or partnership; or

(b) expenditure which is not subject to that limit.

(2) For the purposes of this section the relevant limit for a chargeable period is exceeded in the case of an individual or partnership if the total amount of capital expenditure which—

(a) is incurred in that period by that individual or partnership,

(b) is subject to the limit, and

(c) is or, disregarding this section, would be expenditure to which this Chapter applies,

exceeds the limit applying to that period.

(3) For the purposes of this section expenditure incurred by an individual is subject to the relevant limit for a chargeable period if—

(a) it was incurred by him for the purposes of a trade or profession carried on by him;

(b) that individual devotes substantially the whole of his time in that chargeable period to the carrying on of that trade or profession; and

(c) the expenditure is not excluded from the operation of the limit.

(4) For the purposes of this section expenditure incurred by a partnership is subject to the relevant limit for a chargeable period if—

(a) it was incurred by the partnership for the purposes of a trade or profession carried on by that partnership;

(b) at all times throughout that period at least half of the individuals who are for the time being members of the partnership are devoting substantially the whole of their time to the carrying on of that trade or profession; and

(c) the expenditure is not excluded from the operation of the limit.

(5) For the purposes of this section the expenditure which is excluded from the operation of the relevant limit for a chargeable period is any expenditure falling within any of the following paragraphs, that is to say—

(a) expenditure on the provision of a share in machinery or plant;

(b) expenditure which is treated as expenditure on the provision of machinery or plant by virtue of section 154 (contributions);

(c) expenditure incurred on the provision of machinery or plant for leasing (whether or not the leasing is in the course of a trade).

(6) The limit applying for the purposes of this section to a chargeable period of twelve months is £100,000.

(7) The limit applying for the purposes of this section to a chargeable period which is not twelve months is the amount given by a proportional reduction or, as the case may require, increase of £100,000.

(8) Where, in the case of any contract for the provision of machinery or plant, the capital expenditure which is or is to be incurred under that contract is or may fall to be treated for the purposes of this Act as incurred in different chargeable periods, all of the expenditure falling to be incurred under that contract on the provision of that machinery or plant shall be treated for the purposes of this section as incurred in the first chargeable period in which any of that expenditure is incurred.

(9) This section does not apply for the purposes of corporation tax.

38D Exclusion of Chapter where company’s limit not exceeded. U.K.

(1) Subject to section 38F(3), this Chapter does not apply for the purposes of corporation tax to any expenditure by a company unless that expenditure is—

(a) expenditure incurred in a chargeable period the relevant limit for which is exceeded in relation to that company; or

(b) expenditure excluded from the operation of that limit.

(2) For the purposes of this section the relevant limit for a chargeable period is exceeded in relation to a company only if the total amount of capital expenditure which—

(a) is incurred by that company in that period,

(b) is not excluded from the operation of that limit, and

(c) is or, disregarding this section, would be expenditure to which this Chapter applies,

exceeds the limit applying to that period.

(3) Subject to subsection (5) below, the limit applying for the purposes of this section to a chargeable period of twelve months is £100,000.

(4) Subject to subsection (5) below, the limit applying for the purposes of this section to a chargeable period of less than twelve months is the amount given by a proportional reduction of £100,000.

(5) Where, in a chargeable period, a company has one or more associated companies, the limit applying to that period for the purposes of this section shall be the amount produced by—

(a) taking the amount given for that period by subsection (3) or, as the case may be, subsection (4) above; and

(b) dividing that amount by one plus the number of those companies.

(6) Subsections (4) and (5) of section 13 of the principal Act (which identify the companies that are to count as associated companies for the purposes of section 13(3) of that Act) shall apply for the purposes of subsection (5) above as they apply for the purposes of subsection (3) of that section.

(7) Subsections (5) and (8) of section 38C apply for the purposes of this section as they apply for the purposes of that section.]