Overview
1264.This Part inserts sections 77B to 77K inclusive of TMA as Part 7A of that Act. The inserted sections rewrite provisions in section 38 of, and Schedule 15 to, FA 1973, which provide an information power and a power to assess a licensee in respect of activities carried on by non-UK resident sub-contractors on the UK continental shelf.
1265.A licensee is a person or company who has been granted a licence by the United Kingdom government to search for and exploit the oil reserves in Great Britain, under the United Kingdom territorial sea and on the United Kingdom continental shelf. An oil field may have more than one licensee. The licensees will in turn use the services of other businesses to assist in the development and exploitation of the oil reserves but those other businesses will not themselves be licensees.
1266.Where any of those other businesses is not resident in the United Kingdom, these provisions give HMRC the power to seek information from the licensee about payments made to those businesses, and to seek payment of tax due from those other businesses that is unpaid after 30 days.
