Income Tax Act 2007

Exemptions: no tax avoidance purpose or genuine commercial transaction U.K.

736 Exemptions: introduction U.K.

(1) Sections 737 to 742 deal with exemptions from liability under this Chapter.

(2) Some exemptions apply according to whether the relevant transactions are all pre-5 December 2005 transactions or all post-4 December 2005 transactions or include both (see sections 737, 739 and 740).

(3) In this section and sections 737 to 742—

• “post-4 December 2005 transaction” means a relevant transaction effected on or after 5 December 2005, and

• “pre-5 December 2005 transaction” means a relevant transaction effected before 5 December 2005.

737 Exemption: all relevant transactions post-4 December 2005 transactions U.K.

(1) This section applies if all the relevant transactions are post-4 December 2005 transactions.

(2) An individual is not liable to income tax under this Chapter for the tax year by reference to the relevant transactions if the individual satisfies an officer of Revenue and Customs—

(a) that Condition A is met, or

(b) in a case where Condition A is not met, that Condition B is met.

(3) Condition A is that it would not be reasonable to draw the conclusion, from all the circumstances of the case, that the purpose of avoiding liability to taxation was the purpose, or one of the purposes, for which the relevant transactions or any of them were effected.

(4) Condition B is that—

(a) all the relevant transactions were genuine commercial transactions (see section 738), and

(b) it would not be reasonable to draw the conclusion, from all the circumstances of the case, that any one or more of those transactions was more than incidentally designed for the purpose of avoiding liability to taxation.

(5) In determining the purposes for which the relevant transactions or any of them were effected, the intentions and purposes of any person within subsection (6) are to be taken into account.

(6) A person is within this subsection if, whether or not for consideration, the person—

(a) designs or effects, or

(b) provides advice in relation to,

the relevant transactions or any of them.

(7) In this section—

• “revenue” includes taxes, duties and national insurance contributions,

• “taxation” includes any revenue for whose collection and management the Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs are responsible.

(8) If—

(a) apart from this subsection, an associated operation would not be taken into account for the purposes of this section, and

(b) the conditions in subsections (2) to (4) are not met if it is taken into account, because of—

(i) the associated operation, or

(ii) the associated operation taken together with any other relevant transactions,

it must be taken into account for those purposes.

738 Meaning of “commercial transaction” U.K.

(1) For the purposes of section 737, a relevant transaction is a commercial transaction only if it meets the conditions in subsections (2) and (3).

(2) It must be effected—

(a) in the course of a trade or business and for its purposes, or

(b) with a view to setting up and commencing a trade or business and for its purposes.

(3) It must not—

(a) be on terms other than those that would have been made between persons not connected with each other dealing at arm's length, or

(b) be a transaction that would not have been entered into between such persons so dealing.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (2), making investments, managing them or making and managing them is a trade or business only so far as—

(a) the person by whom it is done, and

(b) the person for whom it is done,

are persons not connected with each other and are dealing at arm's length.

739 Exemption: all relevant transactions pre-5 December 2005 transactions U.K.

(1) This section applies if all the relevant transactions are pre-5 December 2005 transactions.

(2) An individual is not liable for income tax under this Chapter for the tax year by reference to the relevant transactions if the individual satisfies an officer of Revenue and Customs that condition A or B is met.

(3) Condition A is that the purpose of avoiding liability to taxation was not the purpose, or one of the purposes, for which the relevant transactions or any of them were effected.

(4) Condition B is that the transfer and any associated operations—

(a) were genuine commercial transactions, and

(b) were not designed for the purpose of avoiding liability to taxation.

740 Exemption: relevant transactions include both pre-5 December 2005 and post-4 December 2005 transactions U.K.

(1) This section applies if the relevant transactions include both pre-5 December transactions and post-4 December transactions.

(2) An individual is not liable to tax under this Chapter for the tax year by reference to the relevant transactions if—

(a) the condition in section 737(2) (exemption where all relevant transactions are post-4 December 2005 transactions) is met by reference to the post-4 December 2005 transactions, and

(b) the condition in section 739(2) (exemption where all relevant transactions are pre-5 December 2005 transactions) is met by reference to the pre-5 December transactions.

(3) If subsection (2)(b) applies but subsection (2)(a) does not, this Chapter applies with the modifications in subsections (4) to (6).

(4) For the purposes of sections 720 to 730, any income arising before 5 December 2005 must not be brought into account as income of the person abroad.

(5) In determining the relevant income of an earlier tax year for the purposes of section 733(1) (see Step 4), it does not matter whether that year was a year for which the individual was not liable under section 731 because of section 739 or this section.

(6) For the purposes of Step 1 in section 733(1), a benefit received by the individual in or before the tax year 2005-06 is to be left out of account.

(7) But, in the case of a benefit received in the tax year 2005-06, subsection (6) applies only so far as, on a time apportionment basis, the benefit fell to be enjoyed in any part of the year that fell before 5 December 2005.

741 Application of section 742 (partial exemption) U.K.

(1) Section 742 (partial exemption where later associated operations fail conditions) applies if—

(a) an individual is liable to tax because of section 720 or 727 for a tax year (the “taxable year”) because condition B in section 737(4) (genuine commercial transaction: post-4 December 2005 transactions) is not met, and

(b) subsections (2) and (3) apply.

(2) This subsection applies if—

(a) since the relevant transfer there has been at least one tax year for which the individual was not so liable by reference to the relevant transactions effected before the end of the year, and

(b) the individual was not so liable for that year because—

(i) condition B in section 737(4) was met, or

(ii) condition B in section 739(4) (genuine commercial transaction: pre-5 December 2005 transactions) was met.

(3) This subsection applies if the income by reference to which the individual is liable to tax for the taxable year is attributable—

(a) partly to relevant transactions by reference to which one of those conditions was met for the last exempt tax year, and

(b) partly to associated operations not falling within paragraph (a).

(4) For the purposes of this section a tax year is exempt if—

(a) it is one of the tax years mentioned in subsection (2), and

(b) there is no earlier tax year for which the individual was liable to tax because of section 720 or 727 by reference to the relevant transactions or any of them.

(5) References in this section to a person being liable to tax for a tax year because of section 720 or 727 include references to the individual being so liable had any income been treated as arising to the individual for that year under section 721 or 728.

742 Partial exemption where later associated operations fail conditions U.K.

(1) If this section applies, the individual is liable to tax under this Chapter only in respect of part of the income for which the individual would otherwise be liable.

(2) That part is so much of the income as appears to an officer of Revenue and Customs to be justly and reasonably attributable to the operations mentioned in section 741(3)(b) in all the circumstances of the case.

(3) Those circumstances include how far those operations or any of them directly or indirectly affect—

(a) the nature or amount of any person's income, or

(b) any person's power to enjoy any income.