Finance Act 1995

Meaning of “qualifying trade”

4 (1) For the purposes of this Schedule—

(a) a trade is a qualifying trade if it is a trade complying with this paragraph; and

(b) the carrying on of any activities of research and development from which it is intended that there will be derived a trade that—

(i) will comply with this paragraph, and

(ii) will be carried on wholly or mainly in the United Kingdom,

shall be treated as the carrying on of a qualifying trade.

(2) Subject to sub-paragraphs (3) to (9) below, a trade complies with this paragraph if neither that trade nor a substantial part of it consists in one or more of the following activities, that is to say—

(a) dealing in land, in commodities or futures or in shares, securities or other financial instruments;

(b) dealing in goods otherwise than in the course of an ordinary trade of wholesale or retail distribution;

(c) banking, insurance, money-lending, debt-factoring, hire-purchase financing or other financial activities;

(d) leasing (including letting ships on charter or other assets on hire) or receiving royalties or licence fees;

(e) providing legal or accountancy services;

(f) providing services or facilities for any such trade carried on by another person (not being a company of which the company providing the services or facilities is a subsidiary) as—

(i) consists, to a substantial extent, in activities within any of paragraphs (a) to (e) above; and

(ii) is a trade in which a controlling interest is held by a person who also has a controlling interest in the trade carried on by the company providing the services or facilities.

(3) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (2)(b) above—

(a) a trade of wholesale distribution is one in which the goods are offered for sale and sold to persons for resale by them, or for processing and resale by them, to members of the general public for their use or consumption;

(b) a trade of retail distribution is one in which the goods are offered for sale and sold to members of the general public for their use or consumption; and

(c) a trade is not an ordinary trade of wholesale or retail distribution if—

(i) it consists, to a substantial extent, in dealing in goods of a kind which are collected or held as an investment, or in that activity and any other activity of a kind falling within sub-paragraph (2)(a) to (f) above, taken together; and

(ii) a substantial proportion of those goods are held by the company for a period which is significantly longer than the period for which a vendor would reasonably be expected to hold them while endeavouring to dispose of them at their market value.

(4) In determining for the purposes of this paragraph whether a trade carried on by any person is an ordinary trade of wholesale or retail distribution, regard shall be had to the extent to which it has the following features, that is to say—

(a) the goods are bought by that person in quantities larger than those in which he sells them;

(b) the goods are bought and sold by that person in different markets;

(c) that person employs staff and incurs expenses in the trade in addition to the cost of the goods and, in the case of a trade carried on by a company, to any remuneration paid to any person connected with it;

(d) there are purchases or sales from or to persons who are connected with that person;

(e) purchases are matched with forward sales or vice versa;

(f) the goods are held by that person for longer than is normal for goods of the kind in question;

(g) the trade is carried on otherwise than at a place or places commonly used for wholesale or retail trade;

(h) that person does not take physical possession of the goods;

and for the purposes of this sub-paragraph the features specified in paragraphs (a) to (c) above shall be regarded as indications that the trade is such an ordinary trade and those in paragraphs (d) to (h) above shall be regarded as indications of the contrary.

(5) A trade shall not be treated as failing to comply with this paragraph by reason only of its consisting, to a substantial extent, in the receiving of royalties or licence fees if—

(a) the company carrying on the trade is engaged in—

(i) the production of films; or

(ii) the production of films and the distribution of films produced by it since the issue of the relevant holding;

and

(b) all royalties and licence fees received by it are in respect of films produced by it since the issue of the relevant holding, in respect of sound recordings in relation to such films or in respect of other products arising from such films.

(6) A trade shall not be treated as failing to comply with this paragraph by reason only of its consisting, to a substantial extent, in the receiving of royalties or licence fees if—

(a) the company carrying on the trade is engaged in research and development; and

(b) all royalties and licence fees received by it are attributable to research and development which it has carried out.

(7) A trade shall not be treated as failing to comply with this paragraph by reason only of its consisting in letting ships, other than oil rigs or pleasure craft, on charter if—

(a) every ship let on charter by the company carrying on the trade is beneficially owned by the company;

(b) every ship beneficially owned by the company is registered in the United Kingdom;

(c) the company is solely responsible for arranging the marketing of the services of its ships; and

(d) the conditions mentioned in sub-paragraph (8) below are satisfied in relation to every letting of a ship on charter by the company;

but where any of the requirements mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (d) above are not satisfied in relation to any lettings, the trade shall not thereby be treated as failing to comply with this paragraph if those lettings and any other activity of a kind falling within sub-paragraph (2) above do not, when taken together, amount to a substantial part of the trade.

(8) The conditions are that—

(a) the letting is for a period not exceeding 12 months and no provision is made at any time (whether in the charterparty or otherwise) for extending it beyond that period otherwise than at the option of the charterer;

(b) during the period of the letting there is no provision in force (whether by virtue of being contained in the charterparty or otherwise) for the grant of a new letting to end, otherwise than at the option of the charterer, more than 12 months after that provision is made;

(c) the letting is by way of a bargain made at arm’s length between the company and a person who is not connected with it;

(d) under the terms of the charter the company is responsible as principal—

(i) for taking, throughout the period of the charter, management decisions in relation to the ship, other than those of a kind generally regarded by persons engaged in trade of the kind in question as matters of husbandry; and

(ii) for defraying all expenses in connection with the ship throughout that period, or substantially all such expenses, other than those directly incidental to a particular voyage or to the employment of the ship during that period;

and

(e) no arrangements exist by virtue of which a person other than the company may be appointed to be responsible for the matters mentioned in paragraph (d) above on behalf of the company;

but this sub-paragraph shall have effect, in relation to any letting between one company and another where one of those companies is the relevant company and the other is a qualifying subsidiary of that company, or where both companies are qualifying subsidiaries of the relevant company, as if paragraph (c) were omitted.

(9) A trade shall not comply with this paragraph unless it is conducted on a commercial basis and with a view to the realisation of profits.