Finance Act 1921

32 Exemption of superannuation funds from income tax

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section and to any regulations made thereunder, exemption from income tax shall be allowed in respect of income derived from investments or deposits of a superannuation fund, and, subject as aforesaid, any sum paid by an employer or employed person by way of contribution towards a superannuation fund shall, in computing profits or gains for the purpose of an assessment to income tax under Case I. or Case II. of Schedule D. or under Schedule E., be allowed to be deducted as an expense incurred in the year in which t he sum is paid :

Provided that—

(a) no allowance shall be made under the foregoing provision in respect of any contribution by an employed person which is not an ordinary annual contribution, and, where a contribution by an employer is not an ordinary annual contribution, it shall, for the purpose of the foregoing provision, be treated as the Commissioners may "direct, either as an expense incurred in the year in which the sum is paid or as an expense to be spread over such period of years as the Commissioners think proper; and

(b) no allowance shall be made under this section in respect of any payments in respect of which relief can be given under section thirty-two of the Income Tax Act, 1918.

(2) Income tax chargeable in respect of an annuity paid out of a superannuation fund to a person residing in the United Kingdom shall, if the Commissioners so direct, be assessed and charged on the annuitant under Case VI. of Schedule D. instead of being deducted and accounted for under Rule 21 of the General Rules, and tax shall be computed on the full amount of the annuity arising in the year of assessment.

(3) For the purposes of this section, the expression " superannuation fund " means, unless the context otherwise requires, a fund which is approved for those purposes, by the Commissioners, and, subject as hereinafter provided, the Commissioners shall not approve any fund unless it is shown to their satisfaction that—

(a) the fund is a fund bona fide established under irrevocable trusts in connection with some trade or undertaking carried on in the United Kingdom by a person residing therein ;

(b) the fund has for its sole purpose the provision of annuities for persons employed in the trade or undertaking either on retirement at a specified age or on becoming incapacitated at some earlier age;

(c) the employer in the trade or undertaking is a contributor to the fund ;

(d) the fund is recognised by the employer and employed persons in the trade or undertaking:

Provided that the Commissioners may, if they think fit, and subject to such conditions, if any, as they think proper to attach to the approval, approve a fund, or any part of a fund, as a superannuation fund for the purposes of this section—

(i) notwithstanding that the rules of the fund provide for the return in certain contingencies of contributions paid to the fund; or

(ii) if the main purpose of the fund is the provision of such annuities as aforesaid, notwithstanding that such provision is not its sole purpose ; or

(iii) notwithstanding that the trade or undertaking in connection with which the fund is established is carried on only partly in the United Kingdom and by a person not residing therein.

(4) The Commissioners may make regulations generally for the purpose of carrying this section into effect and, in particular, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision, may by such regulations—

(a) provide for the charging of and accounting for tax in respect of contributions (including interest) repaid to a contributor to a superannuation fund and on lump sums paid in commutation of or in lieu of annuities payable out of a superannuation fund as if any sums so repaid or paid were income of the year in which they are repaid or paid;

(b) require the trustees or other persons having the management of a superannuation fund, or an employer whose employees contribute to a superannuation fund, to deliver to the Commissioners such information and particulars as the Commissioners may reasonably require for the purposes of this section ;

(c) prescribe the manner in which claims for relief under this section are to be made and approved, and in which applications for the approval of a superannuation fund are to be made ;

(d) provide for the withdrawal of approval in the case of a fund which ceases to satisfy the requirements of this section ;

(e) provide for determining what contributions to a superannuation fund are to be treated as ordinary annual contributions for the purposes of this section.

(5) Where at the commencement of this Act there is in force any arrangement between the Commissioners and the persons having the management of a superannuation fund by which provision is made for allowing any such deductions for the purpose of income tax as may be allowed for that purpose under this section, the arrangement shall, if the fund is approved as a superannuation fund for the purposes of this section for the year 1921-22, be deemed to have ceased to operate as from the sixth day of April, nineteen hundred and twenty-one, and, if the fund is not so approved, shall cease to operate as from the sixth day of April, nineteen hundred and twenty-two.

(6) In this section the expression " the Commissioners " means the Commissioners of Inland Revenue.