Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988

120 Rent etc. payable in respect of electric line wayleaves

(1) Where rent is payable in respect of any easement enjoyed in the United Kingdom in connection with any electric, telegraphic or telephonic wire or cable (not being such an easement as is mentioned in section 119(1)), the rent shall be charged to tax under Schedule D, and, subject to subsections (2) to (5) below, shall be subject to deduction of income tax under section 348 or 349 as if it were a royalty or other sum paid in respect of the user of a patent.

(2) Any payment of rent to which subsection (1) above applies which does not exceed £2.50 per year may, if the payer so elects, be treated as not affected by so much of that subsection as provides that the rent shall be subject to deduction of income tax, and shall in that event be made without deduction of income tax accordingly.

(3) Any payment of rent to which subsection (1) above applies which is made without deduction of income tax, whether by virtue of subsection (2) above or otherwise, shall, unless income tax is assessed thereon under section 350, be chargeable to tax under Case III of Schedule D.

(4) Any payment of rent to which subsection (1) above applies which is made subject to deduction of income tax shall, if it is paid by a person carrying on a trade which consists of or includes the provision of a radio relay service and the wire or cable in question is used by that person for the purposes of that service—

(a) be deductible (notwithstanding anything in section 74(q)) in computing the amount of the profits or gains of the trade to be charged under Case I of Schedule D, and

(b) be deemed for the purposes of sections 348 and 349 not to be payable out of profits or gains brought into charge to income tax.

(5) In this section—

(a) “easement” and “rent” have the same meanings as in section 119;

(b) the reference to easements enjoyed in connection with any electric, telegraphic or telephonic wire or cable includes (without prejudice to the generality of that expression) references to easements enjoyed in connection with any pole or pylon supporting any such wire or cable, or with any apparatus (including any transformer) used in connection with any such wire or cable; and

(c) “radio relay service” means the retransmission by wire to their customers of broadcast programmes (which may or may not be television programmes) which the persons carrying on the service receive either by wire or by wireless from the British Broadcasting Corporation or from the persons outside the United Kingdom who broadcast the programmes in question.