Paragraph 141 of Schedule 29 to FA 2002
3490.Paragraph 141 of Schedule 29 to FA 2002 is not rewritten. Paragraph 141(2) provides that references in Schedule 29 to the Inland Revenue are, subject to stated exceptions, references to any officer of the Board. The exceptions mentioned in paragraph 141(1) are in relation to the discretionary extension of the time limits for group relief under Part 6 of Schedule 29 and for reinvestment relief under Part 7 of Schedule 29 and in relation to clearance applications in respect of specified provisions in Part 11 of Schedule 29. In the case of these exceptions “Inland Revenue” means the Board. Matters to be dealt with by the Board are traditionally those requiring the exercise of judgement and discretion in particularly sensitive areas. The “Board” here is stated to mean the Commissioners for Inland Revenue reflecting directly the defined usage of terms in section 1(1) of TMA.
3491.Paragraph 141 of Schedule 29 to FA 2002 provides a way for Schedule 29 to make the necessary references to Revenue officers while preserving the distinction between functions that could be performed at an “ordinary” level in the department and those that could not. The terminology has however been overtaken by the creation of HMRC and the provisions of CRCA. If paragraph 141 were rewritten, it would be necessary to translate there the references to “Board”, “Inland Revenue” and “Commissioners for Inland Revenue” into the post-CRCA equivalents while preserving the “special treatment” in respect of the provisions referred to in paragraph 141(1).
3492.However this is not necessary. A general interpretative provision is appropriate when the intangible fixed assets rules are set out in a separate Finance Act Schedule. But in this Act, these rules are part of the main body of the corporation tax rules. So the appropriate post-CRCA term is simply inserted into each provision.
3493.For intended references to “any officer of the Board” under the general rule in paragraph 141(2) of Schedule 29 to FA 2002, the post-CRCA term is “any officer of Revenue and Customs” (section 50(1) of CRCA).
3494.For intended references to the “Commissioners for Inland Revenue” under the specific rule in paragraph 141(1) and (3) of Schedule 29 to FA 2002, the post CRCA term is the “Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs” (sections 1(1) and 50(1) of CRCA). However, as explained in the notes relating to the sections involved, changes are proposed in respect of paragraph 35(2) of Schedule 29 to FA 2002 (rewritten as section 753(2)) and paragraph 39(1)(a) of Schedule 29 to FA 2002 (rewritten as section 756(1)) to reflect the fact that the power attributed there to the Commissioners for HMRC is, in practice, exercised by an officer of HMRC (see also Change 1 in Annex 1).
3495.It is not necessary to rewrite the final sentence in paragraph 141(1) of Schedule 29 to FA 2002 which refers to the authority to delegate Board’s functions. Under section 13 of CRCA practically all functions of the Commissioners are stated to be delegable to an officer of the Department. The established rewrite approach to denoting a function as proper to the Commissioners for HMRC is to leave section 13 of CRCA to spell out that it need not be carried out by the Commissioners personally.