Finance Act 2003

Companies engaged in wholesale, distributive, financial or service business

2 (1) Paragraph 6 (meaning of “engaged in exempt activities”) is amended as follows.

(2) In sub-paragraph (1)(c) (requirement that any of sub-paragraphs (2) to (4A) applies to the company) for “(2) to (4A)” substitute “(2), (3), (4) or (4A)”.

(3) In sub-paragraph (2A) (persons from whom less than 50% of the gross trading receipts of a wholesale etc business of the controlled foreign company must be derived) omit the word “and” immediately preceding paragraph (c) and at the end of that paragraph add “;

(d) persons not falling within paragraphs (a) to (c) above which are companies resident in the United Kingdom;

(e) persons not falling within paragraphs (a) to (c) above which are companies not resident in the United Kingdom which carry on business through a branch or agency in the United Kingdom;

(f) persons not falling within paragraphs (a) to (c) above who are individuals habitually resident in the United Kingdom;

but where the company is a controlled foreign company falling within sub-paragraph (2B) below, paragraphs (d) to (f) above shall be disregarded.”.

(4) After sub-paragraph (2A) insert—

“(2B) A controlled foreign company falls within this sub-paragraph if either—

(a) its main business is the effecting or carrying out of contracts of long-term insurance, other than protection business; or

(b) it is a member of an insurance group and its main business is insuring or reinsuring large risks.

Paragraph 11A below has effect for the interpretation of this sub-paragraph.

(2C) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (2)(b) above, a company’s gross trading receipts from a business shall be regarded as directly or indirectly derived from a person falling within sub-paragraph (2A)(e) above only to the extent that they are derived directly or indirectly from contracts or other arrangements relating to that person’s branch or agency in the United Kingdom.”.

(5) In sub-paragraph (4C) (which defines for the purposes of sub-paragraph (2)(b) a “25 per cent assessable interest”, an expression not used in sub-paragraph (2)(b) but used in sub-paragraph (2A)(b)) for “(2)(b)” substitute “(2A)(b)”.