Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003

Individual learning account training

255 Exemption for contributions to individual learning account training

(1) No liability to income tax in respect of income from a current or former employment arises by virtue of—

(a) the provision to a person within subsection (2) (“the employee”) of individual learning account training that is given by a person who is not the employee’s employer or former employer,

(b) any payment to the person giving the training in respect of the cost of that provision,

(c) the provision to the employee of any benefit incidental to such training, or

(d) the payment or reimbursement of any costs in respect of such training of a kind specified in subsection (3).

(2) A person is within this subsection if the person either—

(a) holds an account that qualifies under section 104 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000 (c. 21), or

(b) is a party to arrangements that qualify under section 105 or 106 of that Act or section 2 of the Education and Training (Scotland) Act 2000 (asp. 8).

(3) The costs are—

(a) costs which are incidental to the employee undertaking the training,

(b) expenses incurred in connection with an examination or other assessment of what the employee has gained from the training, and

(c) the cost of obtaining any qualification, registration or award to which the employee becomes or may become entitled as a result of the training or such an examination or other assessment.

256 Meaning of “individual learning account training”

In this Chapter “individual learning account training” means training or education of a kind that qualifies for grants authorised by—

(a) regulations under section 108 or 109 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000 (c. 21), or

(b) regulations under section 1 of the Education and Training (Scotland) Act 2000.

257 Exception for non-deductible travel expenses

(1) Where travel or subsistence is provided or the costs of travel or subsistence are paid or reimbursed, section 255 does not apply except to the extent that the travel meets condition A or B or the subsistence meets condition B.

(2) Condition A is that, on the assumptions in subsection (4), mileage allowance relief under Chapter 2 of this Part would be available for the travel if no mileage allowance payments had been made.

(3) Condition B is that, on those assumptions, the expenses of the travel or subsistence would be deductible under Part 5.

(4) The assumptions are—

(a) that the employee undertook the training as one of the duties of the employment, and

(b) that the employee incurred and paid the expenses.

(5) In this section—

• “mileage allowance payments” has the meaning given by section 229(2), and

• “subsistence” includes food, drink and temporary living accommodation.

258 Exception where provision for excluded purposes

(1) Section 255 does not apply if or to the extent that the facilities or other benefits that are provided or made available, or the costs of which are paid or reimbursed, are provided or made available for either or both of the following purposes.

(2) They are—

(a) enabling the employee or former employee to enjoy the facilities or benefits for entertainment or recreational purposes, and

(b) rewarding the employee or former employee for performing duties of the employment or former employment or performing them in a particular way.

(3) In subsection (2)(a) the reference to enjoying facilities or benefits for entertainment or recreational purposes includes a reference to enjoying them in the course of a leisure activity.

259 Exception where unrelated assets are provided

(1) Section 255 does not apply if the benefit that is provided, or the use of which is provided, or the cost of which is paid or reimbursed is an asset that is not a training-related asset.

(2) “Training-related asset”, in relation to individual learning account training provided to an employee or former employee, means—

(a) an asset provided—

(i) for use only in the course of the training, or

(ii) for use in the course of the training and in the performance of the duties of the employee’s employment, but not to any significant extent for any other use, or

(b) training materials provided in the course of the training, or

(c) something made by the employee or former employee in the course of the training or incorporated into something so made.

(3) For this purpose “training materials” includes stationery, books or other written material, audio or video tapes, compact disks or floppy disks.

260 Exception where training not generally available to staff

(1) Section 255(1) only applies if any expenditure involved in making the provision, the payment or the reimbursement is incurred in giving effect to existing arrangements providing—

(a) for the person incurring it to contribute to costs arising from the undertaking of individual learning account training by the employer’s employees or former employees, and

(b) for such contributions to be generally available, on similar terms, to the employer’s employees at that time.

(2) In subsection (1) “existing arrangements” means arrangements in place when the agreement to incur the expenditure was made.

(3) The Treasury may by regulations make provision specifying the persons or other entities under whom Crown servants are to be treated for the purposes of this section as holding employment.

(4) Such regulations may—

(a) treat a description of Crown servants (or two or more such descriptions taken together) as an entity for the purposes of the regulations, and

(b) make different provision for different descriptions of Crown servants.

(5) In this section “Crown servant” means a person holding an employment under the Crown.