Finance Act 1994

81 Mortgage interest relief etc. U.K.

(1) For subsection (1) of section 353 of the Taxes Act 1988 (general provision for relief for interest payments) there shall be substituted the following subsection—

“(1) Where a person pays interest in any year of assessment, that person, if he makes a claim to the relief, shall for that year of assessment be entitled (subject to sections 354 to 368) to relief in accordance with this section in respect of so much (if any) of the amount of that interest as is eligible for relief under this section by virtue of sections 354 to 365.”

(2) After that subsection there shall be inserted the following subsections—

“(1A) Where a person is entitled for any year of assessment to relief under this section in respect of any amount of interest which—

(a) is eligible for that relief by virtue of section 354 or 365, and

(b) so far as eligible by virtue of section 354, is so eligible in a case which falls, or is treated as falling, within section 355(1)(a), 356 or 358,

that relief shall consist in an income tax reduction for that year calculated by reference to that amount.

(1B) Where a person is entitled for any year of assessment to relief under this section in respect of any amount of interest which—

(a) is eligible for that relief otherwise than by virtue of section 354 or 365, or

(b) is eligible for that relief by virtue of section 354 in a case falling within section 355(1)(b),

that relief shall consist (subject to sections 237(5)(b) and 355(4)) in a deduction or set-off of that amount from or against that person’s income for that year.

(1C) Without prejudice to subsection (1E) below, where the whole or any part of an amount of interest is eligible for relief under this section by virtue of section 354 in a case which (apart from this subsection) would fall, or be treated as falling, within both section 355(1)(a) or 356 and section 355(1)(b), then that case shall be treated for the purposes of this section and the following provisions of this Act—

(a) except in relation to payments to which an election made for the purposes of this subsection by the person entitled to the relief applies, as falling within section 355(1)(b) and not within section 355(1)(a) or 356; and

(b) in relation to payments to which such an election does apply, as falling within section 355(1)(a) or, as the case may be, 356, and not within section 355(1)(b).

(1D) An election for the purposes of subsection (1C)—

(a) shall be made, and may be withdrawn, by the giving of written notice to an officer of the Board;

(b) shall apply to every payment of interest which—

(i) is made after the time specified in the notice of that election as the time as from which it takes effect; and

(ii) is not made after a time specified in a notice of the withdrawal of that election as the time as from which that election is withdrawn;

(c) shall not be made so as to take effect as from any time except the beginning of a year of assessment or a time as from which the conditions for the case to fall, or be treated as falling, within both section 355(1)(a) or 356 and section 355(1)(b) have begun to be satisfied in relation to payments of interest on the loan in question;

(d) shall not be withdrawn except as from the beginning of a year of assessment; and

(e) shall not be made so as to take effect, and shall not be withdrawn, as from any time before the beginning of the year of assessment immediately before that in which the notice of the election or, as the case may be, of the withdrawal is given to an officer of the Board.

(1E) Where any person is entitled for any year of assessment to relief under this section in respect of any amount of interest as is eligible for that relief partly as mentioned in subsection (1A) above and partly as mentioned in subsection (1B) above, that amount of interest shall be apportioned between the cases to which each of those subsections applies without regard to what parts of the total amount borrowed remain outstanding but according to the following factors, that is to say—

(a) the proportions of the total amount borrowed which were applied for different purposes; and

(b) in the case of so much of any amount of interest which is, or in pursuance of an apportionment under paragraph (a) above is treated as, eligible for relief by virtue of section 354, the different uses to which the land or other property in question is put from time to time;

and subsection (1A) or (1B) above shall apply accordingly in relation to the interest apportioned to the case to which that subsection applies.

(1F) Where any person is entitled under this section for any year of assessment to an income tax reduction calculated by reference to an amount of interest, the amount of that person’s liability for that year to income tax on his total income shall be the amount to which he would have been liable apart from this section less whichever is the smaller of—

(a) the amount equal to the applicable percentage of that amount of interest; and

(b) the amount which reduces his liability to nil.

(1G) In subsection (1F) above “the applicable percentage”—

(a) in relation to so much of any interest as is eligible for relief under this section by virtue of section 354, means 20 per cent.; and

(b) in relation to so much of any interest as is eligible for relief under this section by virtue of section 365, means the percentage which is the basic rate for the year of assessment in question;

but, in relation to any payment of interest which (whenever falling due) is made in the year 1995-96 or any subsequent year of assessment, paragraph (a) above shall have effect with the substitution of “15 per cent.” for “20 per cent.”

(1H) In determining for the purposes of subsection (1F) above the amount of income tax to which a person would be liable apart from any income tax reduction under this section, no account shall be taken of—

(a) any income tax reduction under Chapter I of Part VII or section 347B;

(b) any relief by way of a reduction of liability to tax which is given in accordance with any arrangements having effect by virtue of section 788 or by way of a credit under section 790(1); or

(c) any tax at the basic rate on so much of that person’s income as is income the income tax on which he is entitled to charge against any other person or to deduct, retain or satisfy out of any payment.”

F1 (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(4) For subsections (3) to (5B) of section 369 of that Act (provisions balancing deduction of relevant loan interest from income against charge to tax) there shall be substituted the following subsection—

“(3) The following payments, that is to say—

(a) payments of relevant loan interest to which this section applies, and

(b) payments which would be such payments but for section 373(5),

shall not be allowable as deductions for any purpose of the Income Tax Acts except in so far as they fall to be treated as such payments by virtue only of section 375(2) and would be allowable apart from this subsection.”

(5) Schedule 9 to this Act (which for the purposes of or in connection with the provisions of this section makes further modifications of certain enactments in relation to tax relief on interest payments) shall have effect.

(6) The preceding provisions of this section and that Schedule—

(a) shall have effect in relation to payments of interest made on or after 6th April 1994 (whenever falling due); and

(b) shall also have effect, so far as they relate to relevant loan interest, in relation to any payments of interest becoming due on or after 6th April 1994 which have been made at any time before that date but on or after 30th November 1993.

(7) Any provision made before the passing of this Act by reference to the basic rate of income tax and contained in any instrument or agreement under or in accordance with which payments of relevant loan interest have been or are to be made shall be taken, in relation to any such payment as is mentioned in subsection (6)(a) or (b) above, to have been made, instead, by reference to a rate which, in the case of that payment, is the applicable percentage for the purposes of subsection (1) of section 369 of the Taxes Act 1988.

F1 (8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(9) In this section “relevant loan interest” has the same meaning as in Part IX of the Taxes Act 1988.

Textual Amendments

F1 S. 81(3)(8) repealed (27.7.1999 with effect as mentioned in Sch. 20 Pt. III(7), Note 4 in the repealing Act) by 1999 c. 16, s. 139, Sch. 20 Pt. III(7), Note 4