Finance Act 1995

127 Persons not treated as UK representatives. U.K.

(1) For the purposes of section 126 above and Schedule 23 to this Act, none of the following persons shall be capable of being the non-resident’s UK representative in relation to income or other amounts falling within paragraphs (a) to (d) of section 126(2) above, that is to say—

(a) where the income arises from, or the other amounts are chargeable by reference to, so much of any business as relates to transactions carried out through a person who (though an agent of the non-resident) does not act in relation to the transactions in the course of carrying on a regular agency for the non-resident, that agent;

(b) where the income arises from, or the other amounts are chargeable by reference to, so much of any business as relates to transactions carried out through a broker and falling within subsection (2) below, that broker;

(c) where the income arises from, or the other amounts are chargeable by reference to, so much of any business as relates to investment transactions carried out through an investment manager and falling within subsection (3) below, that manager; and

(d) where the non-resident is a member of Lloyd’s and the income arises from, or the other amounts are chargeable by reference to, his underwriting business, any person who, in relation to or to matters connected with that income or those amounts, has been the non-resident’s members’ agent or the managing agent of the syndicate in question.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(b) above where any income arises from, or other amounts are chargeable by reference to, so much of any business as relates to any transaction carried out through a broker, that transaction shall be taken, in relation to the income or other amounts (“the taxable sums”), to fall within this subsection if—

(a) at the time of the transaction, the broker was carrying on the business of a broker;

(b) the transaction was carried out by the broker on behalf of the non-resident in the ordinary course of that business;

(c) the remuneration which the broker received for the provision of the services of a broker to the non-resident in respect of that transaction was at a rate not less than that which would have been customary for that class of business; and

(d) the non-resident does not fall (apart from this paragraph) to be treated as having the broker as his UK representative in relation to any income or other amounts not included in the taxable sums but chargeable to tax for the same chargeable period.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1)(c) above where any income arises from, or other amounts are chargeable by reference to, so much of any business as relates to any investment transaction, that transaction shall be taken, in relation to that income or those amounts (“the taxable sums”), to have been carried out through an investment manager and to fall within this subsection if—

(a) the transaction was carried out on behalf of the non-resident by a person (“the manager”) who at the time was carrying on a business of providing investment management services;

(b) the transaction was carried out in the ordinary course of that business;

(c) the manager, when he acted on behalf of the non-resident in relation to the transaction, did so in an independent capacity;

(d) the requirements of subsection (4) below are satisfied in relation to the transaction;

(e) the remuneration which the manager received for the provision to the non-resident of the investment management services in question was at a rate which was not less than that which would have been customary for that class of business; and

(f) the non-resident does not fall (apart from this paragraph) to be treated as having the manager as his UK representative in relation to any income or other amounts not included in the taxable sums but chargeable to tax for the same chargeable period.

(4) Subject to subsections (9) to (11) below, the requirements of this subsection are satisfied in relation to any transaction if—

(a) there is a qualifying period in relation to which it has been or is the intention of the manager and the persons connected with him that the non-resident’s relevant excluded income should, as to at least 80 per cent., consist of amounts to which neither the manager nor any such person has a beneficial entitlement; and

(b) to the extent that there is a failure to fulfil that intention, that failure—

(i) is attributable (directly or indirectly) to matters outside the control of the manager and persons connected with him; and

(ii) does not result from a failure by the manager or any of those persons to take such steps as may be reasonable for mitigating the effect of those matters in relation to the fulfilment of that intention.

(5) For the purposes of this section any reference to the relevant excluded income of the non-resident for a qualifying period is a reference to the aggregate of such of the profits and gains of the non-resident for the chargeable periods comprised in the qualifying period as—

(a) derive from transactions carried out by the manager while acting on the non-resident’s behalf; and

(b) for the purposes of section 128 or 129 below would fall (apart from the requirements of subsection (4) above) to be treated as excluded income for any of those chargeable periods.

(6) For the purposes of this section any reference to an amount of relevant excluded income to which a person has a beneficial entitlement is a reference to so much of any amount to which he has or may acquire a beneficial entitlement by virtue of—

(a) any interest of his (whether or not an interest giving a right to an immediate payment of a share in the profits or gains) in property in which the whole or any part of that income is represented, or

(b) any interest of his in or other rights in relation to the non-resident,

as is or would be attributable to that income.

(7) For the purposes of subsections (4) to (6) above references to a qualifying period, in relation to any transaction, are references to any period consisting in or including the chargeable period for which the taxable sums are chargeable to tax, being, in a case where it is not that chargeable period, a period of not more than five years comprising two or more complete chargeable periods.

(8) Where there is a transaction which would fall within subsection (3) above but for its being a transaction in relation to which the requirements of subsection (4) above are not satisfied, this section shall have effect as if the transaction did fall within subsection (3) above but only in relation to so much of the amount of the taxable sums as does not represent any amount of the non-resident’s relevant excluded income to which the manager or a person connected with him has or has had any beneficial entitlement.

(9) Subsections (10) and (11) below shall apply, where amounts arise or accrue to the non-resident as a participant in a collective investment scheme, for the purpose of determining whether a transaction carried out for the purposes of that scheme, in so far as it is a transaction in respect of which any such amounts arise or accrue to him, is one in relation to which the requirements of subsection (4) above are satisfied.

(10) Those requirements shall be deemed to be satisfied in relation to the transaction wherever the collective investment scheme is such that, if the following assumptions applied, namely—

(a) that all transactions carried out for the purposes of the scheme were carried out on behalf of a company constituted for the purposes of the scheme and resident outside the United Kingdom, and

(b) that the participants did not have any rights in respect of the amounts arising or accruing in respect of those transactions other than the rights which, if they held shares in the company on whose behalf the transactions are assumed to be carried out, would be their rights as shareholders,

the assumed company would not, in relation to the chargeable period in which the taxable sums are chargeable to tax, be regarded for tax purposes as a company carrying on a trade in the United Kingdom.

(11) Where, on those assumptions, the assumed company would be so regarded for tax purposes, subsections (4) to (8) above shall have effect in relation to the transaction as if, applying those assumptions—

(a) references to the non-resident were references to the assumed company; and

(b) the following subsection were substituted for subsection (5) above, namely—

“(5) In subsection (4) above the reference to the assumed company’s relevant excluded income for a qualifying period is a reference to the aggregate of the amounts which would, for the chargeable periods comprised in the qualifying period, be chargeable to tax on that company as profits deriving from the transactions carried out by the manager and assumed to be carried out on the company’s behalf.”

(12) In this section “investment transactions” means—

(a) transactions in shares, stock, futures contracts, options contracts or securities of any description not mentioned in this paragraph, but excluding futures contracts or options contracts relating to land,

(b) transactions consisting in the buying or selling of any foreign currency or in the placing of money at interest, and

(c) such other transactions as the Treasury may by regulations designate for the purposes of this section;

and the power to make regulations for the purposes of paragraph (c) above shall be exercisable by statutory instrument subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of the House of Commons.

(13) For the purposes of subsection (12) above a contract is not prevented from being a futures contract or an options contract by the fact that any party is or may be entitled to receive or liable to make, or entitled to receive and liable to make, only a payment of a sum (as opposed to a transfer of assets other than money) in full settlement of all obligations.

(14) The preceding provisions of this section shall have effect in the case of a person who acts as a broker or provides investment management services as part only of a business as if that part were a separate business.

(15) For the purposes of this section—

(a) a person shall be taken to carry out a transaction on behalf of another where he undertakes the transaction himself, whether on behalf of or to the account of that other, and also where he gives instructions for it to be so carried out by another; and

(b) the references to the income arising from so much of a business as relates to transactions carried out through a branch or agency on behalf of the non-resident shall include references to income from property or rights which, as a result of the transactions, are used by, or held by or for, that branch or agency.

(16) In paragraph (d) of subsection (1) above—

(a) the reference to a member of Lloyd’s is a reference to any person who is a member within the meaning of Chapter III of Part II of the Finance Act 1993 or a corporate member within the meaning of Chapter V of Part IV of the M1 Finance Act 1994, and

(b) the references to a members’ agent and to a managing agent shall also be construed in accordance with section 184 of that Act of 1993 or, as the case may be, section 230 of that Act of 1994.

(17) In this section—

• “branch or agency” has the same meaning as in the Management Act;

• “collective investment scheme” has the same meaning as in the M2 Financial Services Act 1986; and

• “participant”, in relation to a collective investment scheme, shall be construed in accordance with section 75 of that Act of 1986;

and section 839 of the Taxes Act 1988 (connected persons) shall apply for the purposes of this section.

(18) For the purposes of this section a person shall not be regarded as acting in an independent capacity when acting on behalf of the non-resident unless, having regard to its legal, financial and commercial characteristics, the relationship between them is a relationship between persons carrying on independent businesses that deal with each other at arm’s length.

(19) This section applies—

(a) for the purposes of income tax and capital gains tax, in relation to the year 1996-97 and subsequent years of assessment; and

(b) for the purposes of corporation tax, in relation to accounting periods beginning after 31st March 1996.

Marginal Citations

M1 1993 c. 34.

M2 1986 c. 60.