17(1)The existence of the powers of the Secretary of State or the Franchising Director under Part II of the Railways Act 1993 shall not be regarded as constituting arrangements falling within subsection (1) or (2) of section 410 of the Taxes Act 1988 (arrangements for the transfer of a company to another group or consortium).
(2)Nothing in Part II of the Railways Act 1993, and no direction given by the Secretary of State under or by virtue of any provision of that Part, shall be regarded as constituting option arrangements for the purposes of paragraph 5B of Schedule 18 to the Taxes Act 1988.
(3)Arrangements relating to the transfer, pursuant to any provision of Part II of the Railways Act 1993, of shares of a subsidiary of the Board to—
(a)the Secretary of State,
(b)the Franchising Director,
(c)a publicly owned railway company,
(d)a company which is wholly owned by the Crown, or
(e)a person acting on behalf of a person falling within any of paragraphs (a) to (d) above,
shall not, so far as so relating, be regarded as constituting arrangements falling within subsection (1)(b)(i) or (ii) of section 410 of the Taxes Act 1988.
(4)Arrangements relating to the transfer, by virtue of a section 85 transfer scheme, of the whole or any part of a trade carried on by the Board or a wholly owned subsidiary of the Board to—
(a)a publicly owned railway company, or
(b)a company wholly owned by the Franchising Director,
shall not, so far as so relating, be regarded as constituting arrangements falling within section 410(1)(b)(iii) of the Taxes Act 1988.
(5)Arrangements relating to the transfer, pursuant to any provision of Part II of the Railways Act 1993, of shares of a subsidiary of the Board, or shares of a company owned by a consortium, to—
(a)the Secretary of State,
(b)the Franchising Director,
(c)a publicly owned railway company,
(d)a company which is wholly owned by the Crown, or
(e)a person acting on behalf of a person falling within any of paragraphs (a) to (d) above,
shall not, so far as so relating, be regarded as constituting arrangements falling within section 410(2)(b)(ii) of the Taxes Act 1988.
(6)None of sub-paragraphs (3) to (5) above shall have effect in relation to any arrangements if—
(a)notwithstanding the provisions of those sub-paragraphs, the arrangements to any extent fall within section 410(1) or (2) of the Taxes Act 1988; or
(b)the arrangements form part of a series of subsisting arrangements which to any extent—
(i)relate to the transfer of any shares or assets of, or the whole or any part of the trade carried on by, a company to which the first-mentioned arrangements relate, and
(ii)notwithstanding the provisions of sub-paragraphs (3) to (5) above, fall within section 410(1) or (2) of the Taxes Act 1988.
(7)Section 413(6)(a) of the Taxes Act 1988 (company owned by a consortium) shall have effect for the purposes of sub-paragraph (5) above as it has effect for the purposes of Chapter IV of Part X of that Act.
(8)In this paragraph—
“arrangements” has the same meaning as in section 410 of the Taxes Act 1988;
“shares” includes stock.