Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988

Other expenses, subscriptions etc.

198 Relief for necessary expenses

(1) If the holder of an office or employment is necessarily obliged to incur and defray out of the emoluments of that office or employment the expenses of travelling in the performance of the duties of the office or employment, or of keeping and maintaining a horse to enable him to perform those duties, or otherwise to expend money wholly, exclusively and necessarily in the performance of those duties, there may be deducted from the emoluments to be assessed the expenses so necessarily incurred and defrayed.

(2) Subject to subsection (3) below, where the emoluments for any duties do not fall within Case I or II of Schedule E, then in relation to those or any other emoluments of the office or employment, subsection (1) above and Chapter II of Part I of the 1968 Act and Chapter I of Part III of the [1971 c. 68.] Finance Act 1971 (capital allowances in respect of machinery and plant) shall apply as if the performance of those duties did not belong to that office or employment.

(3) There may be deducted from any emoluments chargeable under Case III of Schedule E the amount of—

(a) any expenses defrayed out of those emoluments, and

(b) any other expenses defrayed in the United Kingdom in the chargeable period or in an earlier chargeable period in which the holder of the office or employment has been resident in the United Kingdom,

being in either case expenses for which a deduction might have been made under subsection (1) above from emoluments of the office or employment if they had been chargeable under Case I of Schedule E for the chargeable period in which the expenses were incurred; but a deduction shall not be made twice, whether under this subsection or otherwise, in respect of the same expenses from emoluments of the office or employment.

(4) No deduction shall be made under this section in respect of expenditure incurred by a Member of the House of Commons in, or in connection with, the provision or use of residential or overnight accommodation to enable him to perform his duties as such a Member in or about the Palace of Westminster or his constituency.

199 Expenses necessarily incurred and defrayed from official emoluments

(1) Subject to the provisions of subsection (2) below, where the Treasury are satisfied with respect to any class of persons in receipt of any salary, fees or emoluments payable out of the public revenue that such persons are obliged to lay out and expend money wholly, exclusively and necessarily in the performance of the duties in respect of which such salary, fees or emoluments are payable, the Treasury may fix such sum as in the opinion of the Treasury represents a fair equivalent of the average annual amount laid out and so expended by persons of that class, and in charging income tax on that salary or those fees or emoluments there shall be deducted from the amount thereof the sums so fixed by the Treasury.

(2) If any such person would, but for the provisions of subsection (1) above, be entitled to deduct a larger amount than the sum so fixed, that amount may be deducted instead of the sum so fixed.

200 Expenses of Members of Parliament

An allowance—

(a) which is paid to a Member of the House of Commons; and

(b) for which provision is made by resolution of that House, and

(c) which is expressed to be in respect of additional expenses necessarily incurred by the Member in staying overnight away from his only or main residence for the purpose of performing his parliamentary duties, either in the London area, as defined in such a resolution, or in his constituency,

shall not be regarded as income for any purpose of the Income Tax Acts.

201 Fees and subscriptions to professional bodies, learned societies etc

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the following may be deducted from the emoluments of any office or employment to be assessed to tax, if defrayed out of those emoluments, that is to say—

(a) any fee or contribution mentioned in subsection (2) below, and

(b) any annual subscription paid to a body of persons approved for the purposes of this section by the Board.

(2) The fees and contributions referred to in subsection (1)(a) above are—

(a) the fee payable in respect of the retention of a name in the Register of Architects;

(b) the fee payable in respect of the retention of a name in the dentists register or in a roll or record kept for a class of ancillary dental workers;

(c) the fee payable in respect of the retention of a name in either of the registers of ophthalmic opticians or in the register of dispensing opticians;

(d) the annual fee payable by a registered patent agent;

(e) the fee payable in respect of the retention of a name in the register of pharmaceutical chemists;

(f) the fee and contribution to the Compensation Fund or Guarantee Fund payable on the issue of a solicitor’s practising certificate; and

(g) the annual fee payable by a registered veterinary surgeon or by a person registered in the Supplementary Veterinary Register.

(3) The Board may, on the application of the body, approve for the purposes of this section any body of persons not of a mainly local character whose activities are carried on otherwise than for profit and are solely or mainly directed to all or any of the following objects—

(a) the advancement or spreading of knowledge (whether generally or among persons belonging to the same or similar professions or occupying the same or similar positions);

(b) the maintenance or improvement of standards of conduct and competence among the members of any profession;

(c) the indemnification or protection of members of any profession against claims in respect of liabilities incurred by them in the exercise of their profession.

(4) If the activities of a body approved for the purposes of this section are to a significant extent directed to objects other than those mentioned in subsection (3) above, the Board may determine that such specified part only of any annual subscription paid to the body may be deducted under this section as corresponds to the extent to which its activities are directed to objects mentioned in that subsection; and in doing so the Board shall have regard to all relevant circumstances and, in particular, to the proportions of the body’s expenditure attributable to the furtherance of objects so mentioned and other objects respectively.

(5) A fee, contribution or subscription shall not be deducted under this section from the emoluments of any office or employment unless—

(a) the fee is payable in respect of a registration (or retention of a name in a roll or record) or certificate which is a condition, or one of alternative conditions, of the performance of the duties of the office or employment or, as the case may be, the contribution is payable on the issue of such a certificate; or

(b) the subscription is paid to a body the activities of which, so far as they are directed to the objects mentioned in subsection (3) above, are relevant to the office or employment, that is to say, the performance of the duties of the office or employment is directly affected by the knowledge concerned or involves the exercise of the profession concerned.

(6) Any approval given and any determination made under this section may be withdrawn, and any such determination varied, so as to take account of any change of circumstances; and where a body is approved for the purposes of this section in pursuance of an application made before the end of any year of assessment, a deduction may be made under this section in respect of a subscription paid to the body in that year, whether the approval is given before or after the end of the year.

(7) Any body aggrieved by the failure of the Board to approve the body for the purposes of this section, or by their withdrawal of the approval, or by any determination made by them under this section or the variation of or refusal to withdraw or vary such a determination may, by notice given to the Board within 30 days from the date on which the body is notified of their decision, require the matter to be determined by the Special Commissioners, and the Special Commissioners shall thereupon hear and determine the matter in like manner as an appeal.

202 Donations to charity: payroll deduction scheme

(1) This section applies where an individual (“the employee”) is entitled to receive payments from which income tax falls to be deducted by virtue of section 203 and regulations under that section, and the person liable to make the payments (“the employer”) withholds sums from them.

(2) If the conditions mentioned in subsections (3) to (7) below are fulfilled the sums shall, in assessing tax under Schedule E, be allowed to be deducted as expenses incurred in the year of assessment in which they are withheld.

(3) The sums must be withheld in accordance with a scheme which is (or is of a kind) approved by the Board at the time they are withheld and which either contains provisions falling within subsection (4)(a) below, or contains provisions falling within subsection (4)(a) below and provisions falling within subsection (4)(b) below.

(4) The provisions are that—

(a) the employer is to pay sums withheld to a person (“the agent”) who is approved by the Board at the time they are withheld, and the agent is to pay them to a charity or charities;

(b) the employer is to pay sums withheld directly to a charity which (or charities each of which) is at the time the sums are withheld approved by the Board as an agent for the purpose of paying sums to other charities.

(5) The sums must be withheld in accordance with a request by the employee that they be paid to a charity or charities in accordance with a scheme approved (or of a kind approved) by the Board.

(6) The sums must constitute gifts by the employee to the charity or charities concerned, must not be paid by the employee under a covenant, and must fulfil any conditions set out in the terms of the scheme concerned.

(7) The sums must not in any year of assessment exceed £120 in the case of any employee (however many offices or employments he holds or has held).

(8) The circumstances in which the Board may grant or withdraw approval of schemes (or kinds of schemes) or of agents shall be such as are prescribed by the Treasury by regulations; and the circumstances so prescribed (whether relating to the terms of schemes or the qualifications of agents or otherwise) shall be such as the Treasury think fit.

(9) The Treasury may by regulations make provision—

(a) that a participating employer or agent shall comply with any notice which is served on him by the Board and which requires him within a prescribed period to make available for the Board’s inspection documents of a prescribed kind or records of a prescribed kind;

(b) that a participating employer or agent shall in prescribed circumstances furnish to the Board information of a prescribed kind;

(c) for, and with respect to, appeals to the Special Commissioners against the Board’s refusal to grant, or their withdrawal of, approval of any scheme (or any kind of scheme) or agent;

(d) generally for giving effect to subsections (1) to (7) above.

In this subsection “prescribed” means prescribed by the regulations.

(10) For the purposes of subsection (9) above a person is a participating employer or agent if he is an employer or agent who participates, or has at any time participated, in a scheme under this section.

(11) In this section “charity” has the same meaning as in section 506.