Finance Act 1996

91 Payments subject to deduction of tax

(1) This section applies where—

(a) any company receives a payment of interest on which it bears income tax by deduction; and

(b) in the case of that company, a credit relating to that interest has been brought into account for the purposes of this Chapter for an accounting period ending more than two years before the receipt of the payment.

(2) On a claim made by the company to an officer of the Board, section 7(2) or, as the case may be, 11(3) of the Taxes Act 1988 (deducted income tax to be set against liability to corporation tax) shall have effect in relation to the income tax on the payment as if the interest had fallen to be taken into account for the purposes of corporation tax in the accounting period in which the payment of that interest is received.

(3) In determining for the purposes of this section which accounting period is the accounting period for which a credit relating to interest paid subsequently was brought into account, every payment of interest to a company under a loan relationship of that company shall be assumed to be a payment in discharge of the earliest outstanding liability to that company in respect of interest payable under the relationship.

(4) For the purposes of this section, the earliest outstanding liability to interest payable under a loan relationship of a company shall be identified, in relation to any payment of such interest, according to the authorised accounting method most recently used as respects that relationship, so that—

(a) if that method is an authorised accruals basis of accounting, it shall be determined by reference to the time when the interest accrued; and

(b) if that method is an authorised mark to market basis of accounting, it shall be determined by reference to the time when the interest became due and payable.

(5) In subsection (4) above the reference, in relation to a payment of interest made to a company in any accounting period, to the authorised accounting method most recently used as respects that relationship is a reference to the authorised accounting method which, in the case of that company, has been used as respects that relationship for the accounting period which, when the payment is made, is the most recent for which amounts in respect of that relationship have been brought into account for the purposes of this Chapter.

(6) A claim under this section shall not be made in respect of any payment of interest at any time after the later of the following, that is to say—

(a) the time two years after the end of the accounting period in which the payment is received; and

(b) the time six years after the end of the accounting period for which the credit in respect of the interest was brought into account for the purposes of this Chapter.

(7) Where—

(a) there is a payment of interest to a company under a loan relationship of that company, and

(b) the company is prevented by virtue of subsection (6) above from making any claim under this section in respect of that payment,

the company shall not be entitled to make any claim under paragraph 5 of Schedule 16 to the Taxes Act 1988 (set off of income tax borne against income tax payable) in respect of that payment.