National Insurance Contributions Act 2011

5 Starting a new business

(1) P “starts” a new business when P begins to carry on a new business.

(2) A business is not a “new” business if—

(a) P has, at any time during the period of 6 months ending with the time when P begins to carry it on, carried on another business consisting of the activities of which the business consists (or most of them), or

(b) P carries it on as a result of a transfer (within the meaning of subsection (3)).

(3) P carries on a business as a result of a transfer if P begins to carry on the business on another person ceasing to carry on the activities of which it consists (or most of them) in consequence of arrangements involving P and the other person.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (3) P is to be taken to begin to carry on a business on another person ceasing to carry on such activities if—

(a) the business begins to be carried on by P otherwise than in partnership on such activities ceasing to be carried on by persons in partnership, or

(b) P is a number of persons in partnership who begin to carry on the business on such activities ceasing to be carried on—

(i) by a person, or a number of persons, otherwise than in partnership,

(ii) by persons in a partnership not consisting only of all the persons constituting P, or

(iii) partly as mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) and partly as mentioned in sub-paragraph (ii).

(5) P is not to be regarded as starting a new business by beginning to carry on a business if—

(a) before P begins to carry on the business, P is a party to arrangements under which P may (at any time during the relevant period) carry on as part of the business activities carried on by any other person, and

(b) the business would have been prevented by subsection (2)(b) from being a new business had—

(i) P begun to carry on the activities when beginning to carry on the business, and

(ii) the other person at that time ceased to carry them on.

(6) In this section “business” means something which is—

(a) a trade, profession or vocation for the purposes of the Income Tax Acts or the Corporation Tax Acts,

(b) a property business (within the meaning of section 263(6) of the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005), or

(c) an investment business (that is, a business consisting wholly or partly of making investments).