Corporation Tax Act 2009

General principles

595 General principles about the bringing into account of credits and debits

(1) This Part operates by reference to the accounts of companies and amounts recognised for accounting purposes in those accounts.

(2) The general rule is that the amounts to be brought into account by a company as credits or debits for any period for the purposes of this Part are those which are recognised in determining the company’s profit or loss for the period in accordance with generally accepted accounting practice (but this is subject to subsections (3) and (4)).

(3) The credits and debits to be brought into account in respect of a company’s derivative contracts are the amounts which, when taken together, fairly represent for the accounting period in question—

(a) all profits and losses of the company which arise to it from its derivative contracts and related transactions (excluding expenses), and

(b) all expenses incurred by the company under or for the purposes of those contracts and transactions.

(4) Expenses are only treated as incurred as mentioned in subsection (3)(b) if they are incurred directly—

(a) in bringing any of the derivative contracts into existence,

(b) in entering into or giving effect to any of the related transactions,

(c) in making payments under any of those contracts or as a result of any of those transactions, or

(d) in taking steps to ensure the receipt of payments under any of those contracts or in accordance with any of those transactions.

(5) For the treatment of pre-contract or abortive expenses, see section 607.

(6) In subsection (3) “profits and losses” includes profits and losses of a capital nature.

(7) This section is subject to the following provisions of this Part.

(8) For the meaning of “related transaction” see section 596.

596 Meaning of “related transaction”

(1) In this Part “related transaction”, in relation to a derivative contract, means any disposal or acquisition (in whole or in part) of rights or liabilities under the contract.

(2) For this purpose the cases where there is taken to be such a disposal or acquisition include—

(a) those where rights or liabilities under the derivative contract are transferred or extinguished by any sale, gift, surrender or release, and

(b) those where the contract is discharged by performance in accordance with its terms.