Finance Act 1996

164 Limits on relief for expenses

(1) For subsections (2) to (5) of section 76 of the Taxes Act 1988 there shall be substituted the following subsections—

“(2) Where, in the case of any such company, the amount mentioned in paragraph (a) of subsection (2A) below exceeds for any accounting period the amount mentioned in paragraph (b) of that subsection, the amount which by virtue of this section is to be deductible by way of management expenses for that period shall be equal to the basic deduction for that period reduced by the amount of the excess.

(2A) Those amounts are—

(a) the amount which would be the profits of the company’s life assurance business for that period if computed in accordance with the provisions applicable to Case I of Schedule D and adjusted in respect of losses; and

(b) the amount (including any negative amount) produced by deducting the following aggregate amount from the company’s relevant income for that period from its life assurance business, that is to say, the aggregate of—

(i) the basic deduction,

(ii) any non-trading deficit on the company’s loan relationships which is produced for that period in relation to that business by a separate computation under paragraph 2 of Schedule 11 to the Finance Act 1996,

(iii) any amount which in pursuance of a claim under paragraph 4(3) of that Schedule is carried back to that period and (in accordance with paragraph 4(5) of that Schedule) applied in reducing profits of the company for that period, and

(iv) any charges on income for that period so far as they consist in annuities or other annual payments that are referable to the company’s life assurance business and, if they are not annuities, are payable by the company wholly or partly in satisfaction of claims under insurance policies.

(2B) For the purposes of subsection (2A) above a company’s relevant income for any accounting period from its life assurance business is the sum of the following—

(a) the income and gains of the company’s life assurance business for that accounting period; and

(b) the relevant franked investment income of the company for that period so far as it arises from assets held for the purposes of that business and is not included in the income and gains mentioned in paragraph (a) above.

(2C) The adjustment in respect of losses that is to be made for any accounting period under paragraph (a) of subsection (2A) above is a deduction of the amount equal to the unused part of the sum which—

(a) by reference to computations made in respect of the company’s life assurance business in accordance with the provisions applicable to Case I of Schedule D, and

(b) disregarding section 434A(2),

would fall, in the case of the company, to be set off under section 393 against the company’s income for that period.

(2D) For the purposes of subsection (2C) above, an amount is unused to the extent that it has not been taken into account for any previous accounting period in determining the amount by reference to which the following question was answered, namely, the question whether, and by how much, the amount deductible by virtue of this section by way of management expenses was less than the basic deduction.

(5) Subject to paragraph 4(11) to (13) of Schedule 11 to the Finance Act 1996, where the basic deduction for any period exceeds the amount which for that period is to be deductible by virtue of this section by way of management expenses, the amount to be carried forward by virtue of section 75(3) (including the amount to be so carried forward for the purpose of computing the amount of the basic deduction for any period) shall be increased by the amount of the excess.”

(2) In subsection (8) of that section—

(a) after the definition of “authorised person” there shall be inserted the following definition—

““basic deduction”, in relation to an accounting period of an insurance company, means the amount which, by virtue of this section, would be deductible by way of management expenses for that period but for subsection (2) above;”

and

(b) after the definition of “recognised self-regulating organisation” there shall be inserted the following definition—

““relevant franked investment income”, in relation to any insurance company, means any franked investment income of the company in so far as it is not income the tax credits comprised in which may be claimed by the company under section 438(4) or 441A(7);”.

(3) In paragraph 5 of Schedule 19AC to the Taxes Act 1988 (modification of section 76)—

(a) in sub-paragraph (1), in the subsection (6B) treated as inserted in section 76, for “their” there shall be substituted “its” and the words “and subsections (2) and (3)(b) above” shall be omitted; and

(b) after that sub-paragraph there shall be inserted the following sub-paragraph—

“(1A) In section 76 references to franked investment income shall be treated as being references to UK distribution income within the meaning of paragraph 5B of this Schedule.”

(4) In section 56(4) of the Taxes Act 1988 (which contains a reference to the computation required by section 76(2) of that Act), for “by” there shall be substituted “for the purposes of”.

(5) Subject to subsection (6) below, this section has effect in relation to accounting periods beginning on or after 1st January 1996.

(6) Notwithstanding anything in the previous provisions of this section, section 76 of the Taxes Act 1988 has effect in relation to accounting periods beginning on or after 1st January 1996—

(a) as if the reference in subsection (2D) of that section to a previous accounting period included a reference to an accounting period beginning before that date, and

(b) in relation to such a previous accounting period, as if the references—

(i) to the amount deductible by virtue of this section, and

(ii) to the basic deduction,

were to be construed by reference to whatever provisions had effect in relation to that previous period for purposes corresponding to those of that section as amended by this section.