Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988

10 Time for payment of tax

(1) Except as provided by section 478—

(a) corporation tax for an accounting period ending after such day or days (not being earlier than 31st March 1992) as the Treasury may by order appoint for the purposes of this section shall be due and payable on the day following the expiry of nine months from the end of that period; and

(b) corporation tax assessed for any other accounting period shall be paid within nine months from the end of that period or, if it is later, within 30 days from the date of the issue of the notice of assessment.

(2) Notwithstanding that, by virtue of subsection (1)(a) above or section 419(1), any corporation tax (or any amount payable as if it were corporation tax) is due without the making of an assessment, no proceedings for collecting that tax (or other amount) shall be instituted—

(a) unless it has been assessed; and

(b) until the expiry of the period of 30 days beginning on the date on which the notice of assessment is issued;

and the reference in this subsection to proceedings for collecting tax or any other amount includes a reference to proceedings by way of distraint or poinding for that tax or other amount.

(3) If, with respect to any accounting period—

(a) a company has paid an amount of corporation tax without the making of an assessment; and

(b) at any time before an assessment to corporation tax for the period becomes final, the company has grounds for believing that, by reason of a change in the circumstances of the case since the tax was paid, the amount paid exceeds the company’s probable liability for corporation tax,

the company may, by notice given to the inspector on or after the date which, under section 826, is the material date in relation to that tax, make a claim for the repayment to the company of the amount of that excess; and a notice under this subsection shall state the amount which the company considers should be repaid and the grounds referred to in paragraph (b) above.

(4) If, apart from this subsection, a claim would fall to be made under subsection (3) above at a time when the company concerned has appealed against such an assessment as is referred to in paragraph (b) of that subsection but that appeal has not been finally determined, that subsection shall have effect as if, for the words from “make a claim” to “excess”, there were substituted “apply to the Commissioners to whom the appeal stands referred for a determination of the amount which should be repaid to the company pending a determination of the company’s liability for the accounting period in question”; and such an application shall be determined in the same way as the appeal.

(5) Where on an appeal against an assessment to corporation tax a company makes an application under section 55(3) or (4) of the Management Act (postponement of tax charged but not paid etc.), that application may be combined with an application under subsections (3) and (4) above (relating to tax which was paid prior to the assessment).