Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988

CHAPTER I THE PRINCIPAL RELIEFS

788 Relief by agreement with other countries

(1) If Her Majesty by Order in Council declares that arrangements specified in the Order have been made with the government of any territory outside the United Kingdom with a view to affording relief from double taxation in relation to—

(a) income tax,

(b) corporation tax in respect of income or chargeable gains, and

(c) any taxes of a similar character to those taxes imposed by the laws of that territory,

and that it is expedient that those arrangements should have effect, then those arrangements shall have effect in accordance with subsection (3) below.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) above, if it appears to Her Majesty to be appropriate, the arrangements specified in an Order in Council under this section may include provisions with respect to the exchange of information necessary for carrying out the domestic laws of the United Kingdom and the laws of the territory to which the arrangements relate concerning taxes covered by the arrangements including, in particular, provisions about the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to those taxes; and where arrangements do include any such provisions, the declaration in the Order in Council shall state that fact.

(3) Subject to the provisions of this Part, the arrangements shall, notwithstanding anything in any enactment, have effect in relation to income tax and corporation tax in so far as they provide—

(a) for relief from income tax, or from corporation tax in respect of income or chargeable gains; or

(b) for charging the income arising from sources, or chargeable gains accruing on the disposal of assets, in the United Kingdom to persons not resident in the United Kingdom; or

(c) for determining the income or chargeable gains to be attributed—

(i) to persons not resident in the United Kingdom and their agencies, branches or establishments in the United Kingdom; or

(ii) to persons resident in the United Kingdom who have special relationships with persons not so resident; or

(d) for conferring on persons not resident in the United Kingdom the right to a tax credit under section 231 in respect of qualifying distributions made to them by companies which are so resident.

(4) The provisions of Chapter II of this Part shall apply where arrangements which have effect by virtue of this section provide that tax payable under the laws of the territory concerned shall be allowed as a credit against tax payable in the United Kingdom.

(5) For the purposes of this section and, subject to section 795(3), Chapter II of this Part in its application to relief under this section, any amount of tax which would have been payable under the law of a territory outside the United Kingdom but for a relief to which this subsection applies given under the law of that territory shall be treated as having been payable; and references in this section and that Chapter to double taxation, to tax payable or chargeable, or to tax not chargeable directly or by deduction shall be construed accordingly.

This subsection applies—

(a) to any relief given with a view to promoting industrial, commercial, scientific, educational or other development in a territory outside the United Kingdom, being a relief with respect to which provision is made in the arrangements in question for double taxation relief; and

(b) to any relief provided under and in accordance with the arrangements, where the latter expressly contemplate that the relief is to fall within this subsection.

(6) Except in the case of a claim for an allowance by way of credit in accordance with Chapter II of this Part, a claim for relief under subsection (3)(a) above shall be made to the Board.

(7) Where—

(a) under any arrangements which have effect by virtue of this section, relief may be given, either in the United Kingdom or in the territory with the government of which the arrangements are made, in respect of any income or chargeable gains, and

(b) it appears that the assessment to income tax or corporation tax made in respect of the income or chargeable gains is not made in respect of the full amount thereof, or is incorrect having regard to the credit, if any, which falls to be given under the arrangements,

any such assessments may be made as are necessary to ensure that the total amount of the income or chargeable gains is assessed, and the proper credit, if any, is given in respect thereof, and, where the income is, or the chargeable gains are, entrusted to any person in the United Kingdom for payment, any such assessment may be made on the recipient of the income or gains, and, in the case of an assessment in respect of income, may be assessed under Case VI of Schedule D.

(8) Any arrangements to which effect is given under this section may include provision for relief from tax for periods before the passing of this Act, or before the making of the arrangements, and provisions as to income or chargeable gains which is or are not subject to double taxation, and the preceding provisions of this section shall have effect accordingly.

(9) Any Order in Council made under this section revoking an earlier such Order in Council may contain such transitional provisions as appear to Her Majesty to be necessary or expedient.

(10) Before any Order in Council proposed to be made under this section is submitted to Her Majesty in Council, a draft of the Order shall be laid before the House of Commons, and the Order shall not be so submitted unless an Address is presented to Her Majesty by that House praying that the Order be made.

789 Arrangements made under old law

(1) Notwithstanding section 793(2), any arrangements made in relation to the profits tax under section 347 of the [1952 c. 10.] Income Tax Act 1952 or any earlier enactment corresponding to that section shall, except in so far as arrangements made after the passing of the [1965 c. 25.] Finance Act 1965 provide otherwise, have effect in relation to corporation tax and income and gains chargeable to corporation tax as they are expressed to have effect in relation to the profits tax and profits chargeable to the profits tax, with the substitution of accounting periods for chargeable accounting periods (and not as they had effect in relation to income tax).

(2) In so far as any arrangements made before 30th March 1971 provide for the exemption of any income from surtax they shall have effect, unless otherwise modified by subsequent arrangements, as if they provided for that income to bear income tax at the basic rate and to be disregarded for the purpose of computing total income, except in so far as the computation affects the matters mentioned in section 835(5).

(3) Any reference in the Tax Acts (including this Part) to arrangements under or by virtue of section 788 includes a reference to arrangements having effect by virtue of this section.

790 Unilateral relief

(1) To the extent appearing from the following provisions of this section, relief from income tax and corporation tax in respect of income and chargeable gains shall be given in respect of tax payable under the law of any territory outside the United Kingdom by allowing that tax as a credit against income tax or corporation tax, notwithstanding that there are not for the time being in force any arrangements under section 788 providing for such relief.

(2) Relief under subsection (1) above is referred to in this Part as “unilateral relief”.

(3) Unilateral relief shall be such relief as would fall to be given under Chapter II of this Part if arrangements with the government of the territory in question containing the provisions specified in subsections (4) to (10) below were in force by virtue of section 788, but subject to any particular provision made with respect to unilateral relief in that Chapter; and any expression in that Chapter which imports a reference to relief under arrangements for the time being having effect by virtue of that section shall be deemed to import also a reference to unilateral relief.

(4) Credit for tax paid under the law of the territory outside the United Kingdom and computed by reference to income arising or any chargeable gain accruing in that territory shall be allowed against any United Kingdom income tax or corporation tax computed by reference to that income or gain (profits from, or remuneration for, personal or professional services performed in that territory being deemed for this purpose to be income arising in that territory).

(5) Subsection (4) above shall have effect subject to the following modifications, that is to say—

(a) where the territory is the Isle of Man or any of the Channel Islands, the limitation to income or gains arising in the territory shall not apply;

(b) where arrangements with the government of the territory are for the time being in force by virtue of section 788, credit for tax paid under the law of the territory shall not be allowed by virtue of subsection (4) above in the case of any income or gains if any credit for that tax is allowable under those arrangements in respect of that income or those gains; and

(c) credit shall not be allowed by virtue of subsection (4) above for overseas tax on a dividend paid by a company resident in the territory unless—

(i) the overseas tax is directly charged on the dividend, whether by charge to tax, deduction of tax at source or otherwise, and the whole of it represents tax which neither the company nor the recipient would have borne if the dividend had not been paid; or

(ii) the dividend is paid to a company within subsection (6) below; or

(iii) the dividend is paid to a company to which section 802(1) applies and is a dividend of the kind described in that subsection.

(6) Where a dividend paid by a company resident in the territory is paid to a company resident in the United Kingdom which either directly or indirectly controls, or is a subsidiary of a company which directly or indirectly controls—

(a) not less than 10 per cent. of the voting power in the company paying the dividend; or

(b) less than 10 per cent. of the voting power in the company paying the dividend if—

(i) it has been reduced below that percentage on or after 1st April 1972; or

(ii) it has been acquired on or after that date in exchange for voting power in another company in respect of which relief under this subsection by virtue of paragraph (a) above was due prior to the exchange;

and the company receiving the dividend shows that the conditions specified in subsection (7) below are satisfied;

any tax in respect of its profits paid under the law of the territory by the company paying the dividend shall be taken into account in considering whether any, and if so what, credit is to be allowed in respect of the dividend.

In this subsection references to one company being a subsidiary of another are to be construed in accordance with section 792(2).

(7) The conditions referred to in subsection (6)(b) above are as follows—

(a) that the reduction below the 10 per cent. limit (and any further reduction) or, as the case may be, the exchange (and any reduction thereafter) could not have been prevented by any reasonable endeavours on the part of the company receiving the dividend and was due to a cause or causes not reasonably foreseeable by it when control of the relevant voting power was acquired; and

(b) no reasonable endeavours on the part of that company could have restored or, as the case may be, increased the voting power to not less than 10 per cent.

(8) In subsection (7) above references to the company receiving the dividend include references—

(a) to any company of which it is a subsidiary within the meaning of section 792(2); and

(b) where prior to the reduction or exchange the voting power in question was controlled otherwise than directly by the company receiving the dividend, to each other company relevant for determining whether that voting power was controlled as required by subsection (6)(a) above.

(9) In subsection (7) above “the relevant voting power” means the voting power by virtue of which relief was due under subsection (6)(a) above prior to the reduction or exchange or, where control of the whole of that voting power was not acquired at the same time, that part of the voting power of which control was last acquired.

(10) In any case in which relief in respect of a dividend is due by virtue of subsection (6)(b) above, there shall be taken into account, as if it were tax payable under the law of the territory in which the company paying the dividend is resident, any tax that would be so taken into account under section 801 if the company paying the dividend and the company receiving it were related to each other within the meaning of section 801(5).

(11) Where—

(a) unilateral relief may by given in respect of any income or chargeable gain, and

(b) it appears that the assessment to income tax or corporation tax made in respect of the income or chargeable gain is not made in respect of the full amount thereof, or is incorrect having regard to the credit, if any, which falls to be given by way of unilateral relief,

any such assessments may be made as are necessary to ensure that the total amount of the income or chargeable gain is assessed, and the proper credit, if any, is given in respect thereof, and, where the income is, or the chargeable gain is, entrusted to any person in the United Kingdom for payment, any such assessment may be made on the recipient of the income or gain, and, in the case of an assessment in respect of income, may be assessed under Case VI of Schedule D.

(12) In this section and in Chapter II of this Part in its application to unilateral relief, references to tax payable or paid under the law of a territory outside the United Kingdom include only references—

(a) to taxes which are charged on income and which correspond to United Kingdom income tax, and

(b) to taxes which are charged on income or chargeable gains and which correspond to United Kingdom corporation tax;

but for this purpose tax under the law of any such territory shall not be treated as not corresponding to income tax or corporation tax by reason only that it is payable under the law of a province, state or other part of a country, or is levied by or on behalf of a municipality or other local body.

791 Power to make regulations for carrying out section 788

The Board may from time to time make regulations generally for carrying out the provisions of section 788 or any arrangements having effect thereunder, and may in particular by those regulations provide—

(a) for securing that relief from taxation imposed by the laws of the territory to which any such arrangements relate does not enure for the benefit of persons not entitled to such relief; and

(b) for authorising, in cases where tax deductible from any payment has, in order to comply with any such arrangements, not been deducted, and it is discovered that the arrangements did not apply to that payment, the recovery of the tax by assessment on the person entitled to the payment or by deduction from subsequent payments.