Finance Act 1995

6 For subsections (3) to (5) of section 564 of that Act there shall be substituted the following subsections—

“(2A) The partners must satisfy the Board, by such evidence as may be prescribed in regulations made by the Board, that the carrying on of the firm’s business is likely to involve the receipt, annually in the period to which the certificate would relate, of an aggregate amount by way of relevant payments which is not less than whichever is the smaller of—

(a) the sum specified in subsection (2B) below; and

(b) the amount specified for the purposes of this paragraph in regulations made by the Board;

and in this subsection “relevant payments” has the meaning given by section 562(2B).

(2B) The sum referred to in subsection (2A)(a) above is the sum of the following amounts, that is to say—

(a) the amount obtained by multiplying the number of partners in the firm who are individuals by the amount specified in regulations as the minimum turnover for the purposes of section 562(2A); and

(b) in respect of each partner in the firm who is a company (other than one to which section 565(2A)(b) would apply), the amount equal to what would have been the minimum turnover for the purposes of section 565(2A) if the application had been for the issue of a certificate to that company.

(3) Subject to subsection (4) below, each of the persons who are partners at the time of the application must have complied, so far as any such charge to income tax or corporation tax is concerned as falls to be computed by reference to the profits or gains of the firm’s business—

(a) with all obligations imposed on him by or under the Tax Acts or the Management Act in respect of periods ending within the qualifying period; and

(b) with all requests to him as such a partner to supply to an inspector accounts of, or other information about, the firm’s business or his share of the profits or gains of that business.

(4) Where a person has failed to comply with such an obligation or request as is referred to in subsection (3) above the firm shall nevertheless be treated, in relation to that partner, as satisfying that condition as regards that obligation or request if the Board are of the opinion that the failure is minor and technical and does not give reason to doubt that the condition mentioned in subsection (5) below will be satisfied.

(5) There must be reason to expect that each of the persons who are from time to time partners in the firm will, in respect of periods ending after the end of the qualifying period, comply with such obligations and requests as are referred to in subsection (3) above.

(6) Subject to subsection (4) above, a person shall not be taken for the purposes of this section to have complied with any such obligation or request as is referred to in subsection (3) above if there has been a contravention of a requirement as to the time at which, or the period within which, the obligation or request was to be complied with.

(7) In this section “the qualifying period”, in relation to an application for the issue of a certificate under section 561, means the period of three years ending with the date of the application.”