Section 13: Visiting performers
90.This section has two functions. It treats certain activities as trades and it treats those trades as carried on in the United Kingdom. It is based on sections 555 to 558 of ICTA.
91.Section 555 of ICTA requires deduction of tax from certain payments to entertainers and sportsmen. The rules about deduction of tax are not rewritten in this Act. But there is a cross-reference in the definition of “payment” in subsection (8) to the rule about deduction of tax to identify the sort of payment with which the section is concerned.
92.A visiting performer may not be in the United Kingdom long enough to become resident for tax purposes. And any relevant activities may not be part of a trade, profession or vocation carried on in the United Kingdom. So, without this section, there would be no liability to tax on the activities in the United Kingdom.
93.Subsection (1) sets out the circumstances in which the section applies. A non-resident person performs “a relevant activity” in the United Kingdom. In accordance with subsection (8), that expression means activities prescribed by regulations. The regulations are those (currently SI 1987/530) made under sections 555 to 558 of ICTA or under section 14.
94.Subsection (2) creates a United Kingdom trade that includes the “relevant activity”.
95.Subsection (4) makes clear that this section creates a trade carried on in the United Kingdom only to the extent that such a trade would not otherwise exist. If a visiting performer’s activities in the United Kingdom amount to a trade on first principles, this section does not create a trade because one already exists. But a trade is not created if the activities are part of an employment. In that case, tax is charged on the payments as employment income (see section 7 of ITEPA).
96.Subsection (5) deals with the case where payments for the relevant activity are made to a person other than the performer - typically, a company controlled by the performer. As in subsection (2), the “relevant activity” is treated as part of a United Kingdom trade. In addition, the payments are treated as made to the performer (instead of to the “other person”).
97.Subsection (7) treats the performer’s deemed trade as separate from any other trade actually carried on by the performer.
