(1)Stamp duty under the heading “Lease or Tack” in Schedule 1 to the M1Stamp Act 1891 shall not be chargeable on an instrument which is—
(a)a lease or tack,
(b)an agreement for a lease or tack, or
(c)an agreement with respect to a letting,
as respects which the condition in subsection (2) below is satisfied.
(2)The condition is that it is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue that—
(a)the lessor is a body corporate and the lessee is another body corporate,
(b)those bodies are associated at the time the instrument is executed,
(c)in the case of an agreement, the agreement is for the lease or tack or letting to be granted to the lessee or to a body corporate which is associated with the lessee at the time the instrument is executed, and
(d)the instrument is not executed in pursuance of or in connection with an arrangement falling within subsection (3) below.
(3)An arrangement falls within this subsection if it is one under which—
(a)the consideration, or any part of the consideration, for the lease or tack or agreement was to be provided or received (directly or indirectly) by a person other than a body corporate which at the relevant time was associated with either the lessor or the lessee, or
(b)the lessor and the lessee were to cease to be associated by reason of the lessor or a third body corporate ceasing to be the lessee’s parent;
and the relevant time is the time of the execution of the instrument.
(4)Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a) of subsection (3) above, an arrangement shall be treated as within that paragraph if it is one under which the lessor or the lessee or a body corporate associated with either at the relevant time was to be enabled to provide any of the consideration, or was to part with any of it, by or in consequence of the carrying out of a transaction which involved (or transactions any of which involved) a payment or other disposition by a person other than a body corporate associated with the lessor or the lessee at the relevant time.
(5)An instrument mentioned in subsection (1) above shall not be treated as duly stamped unless—
(a)it is duly stamped in accordance with the law that would apply but for that subsection, or
(b)it has, in accordance with section 12 of the M2Stamp Act 1891, been stamped with a particular stamp denoting either that it is not chargeable with any duty or that it is duly stamped.
(6)In this section—
(a)references to the lessor are to the person granting the lease or tack or (in the case of an agreement) agreeing to grant the lease or tack or letting;
(b)references to the lessee are to the person being granted the lease or tack or (in the case of an agreement) agreeing for the lease or tack or letting to be granted to him or another.
(7)For the purposes of this section bodies corporate are associated at a particular time if at that time one is the parent of the other or another body corporate is the parent of each.
(8)For the purposes of this section one body corporate is the parent of another at a particular time if at that time the first body is beneficial owner of not less than 75 per cent. of the ordinary share capital of the second body.
(9)In subsection (8) above “”, in relation to a body corporate, means all the issued share capital (by whatever name called) of the body corporate, other than capital the holders of which have a right to a dividend at a fixed rate but have no other right to share in the profits of the body corporate.
(10)The ownership referred to in subsection (8) above is ownership either directly or through another body corporate or other bodies corporate, or partly directly and partly through another body corporate or other bodies corporate; and Part I of Schedule 4 to the M3Finance Act 1938 (determination of amount of capital held through other bodies corporate) shall apply for the purposes of this section.
(11)This section shall apply in relation to instruments executed on or after the day on which this Act is passed.