Corporation Tax Act 2009

Unallowable purposes and tax relief schemes

441 Loan relationships for unallowable purposes

(1) This section applies if in any accounting period a loan relationship of a company has an unallowable purpose.

(2) The company may not bring into account for that period for the purposes of this Part so much of any credit in respect of exchange gains from that relationship as on a just and reasonable apportionment is attributable to the unallowable purpose.

(3) The company may not bring into account for that period for the purposes of this Part so much of any debit in respect of that relationship as on a just and reasonable apportionment is attributable to the unallowable purpose.

(4) An amount which would be brought into account for the purposes of this Part as respects any matter apart from this section is treated for the purposes of section 464(1) (amounts brought into account under this Part excluded from being otherwise brought into account) as if it were so brought into account.

(5) Accordingly, that amount is not to be brought into account for corporation tax purposes as respects that matter either under this Part or otherwise.

(6) For the meaning of “has an unallowable purpose” and “the unallowable purpose” in this section, see section 442.

442 Meaning of “unallowable purpose”

(1) For the purposes of section 441 a loan relationship of a company has an unallowable purpose in an accounting period if, at times during that period, the purposes for which the company—

(a) is a party to the relationship, or

(b) enters into transactions which are related transactions by reference to it,

include a purpose (“the unallowable purpose”) which is not amongst the business or other commercial purposes of the company.

(2) If a company is not within the charge to corporation tax in respect of a part of its activities, for the purposes of this section the business and other commercial purposes of the company do not include the purposes of that part.

(3) Subsection (4) applies if a tax avoidance purpose is one of the purposes for which a company—

(a) is a party to a loan relationship at any time, or

(b) enters into a transaction which is a related transaction by reference to a loan relationship of the company.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (1) the tax avoidance purpose is only regarded as a business or other commercial purpose of the company if it is not—

(a) the main purpose for which the company is a party to the loan relationship or, as the case may be, enters into the related transaction, or

(b) one of the main purposes for which it is or does so.

(5) The references in subsections (3) and (4) to a tax avoidance purpose are references to any purpose which consists of securing a tax advantage for the company or any other person.

443 Restriction of relief for interest where tax relief schemes involved

(1) A company may not bring a debit into account for the purposes of this Part in respect of interest if a tax relief scheme has been effected or tax relief arrangements have been made in relation to the transaction as a result of which the interest would be taken into account.

(2) Subsection (1) applies whether the tax relief scheme is effected or the tax relief arrangements are made before or after the transaction.

(3) A scheme is a tax relief scheme in relation to a transaction for the purposes of subsection (1) if it is such that the sole or main benefit that might be expected to accrue to the company from the transaction is the obtaining of a reduction in tax liability by bringing the debit into account.

(4) Arrangements are tax relief arrangements in relation to a transaction for the purposes of subsection (1) if they are such that the sole or main benefit which might be expected to accrue to the company from the transaction is the obtaining of a reduction in tax liability by bringing the debit into account.

(5) Subsection (6) applies if relief is claimed as a result of section 403 of ICTA (amounts which may be surrendered by way of group relief)—

(a) in respect of trading losses in a case where, in calculating those losses, debits in respect of loan relationships are treated under section 297(3) as expenses of the trade, or

(b) in respect of a deficit to which Chapter 16 (non-trading deficits) applies.

(6) Any question arising under this section as to what benefit might be expected to accrue from a transaction is to be determined by reference to the claimant company and the surrendering company taken together.

(7) In this section “the claimant company” and “the surrendering company” have the same meaning as in section 402 of ICTA (see subsection (1) of that section).