(1)For the purposes of the Corporation Tax Acts, except in so far as the context otherwise requires—
" accounting date " means the date to which a company makes up its accounts and " period of account " means the period for which it does so,
" allowable loss " does not include, for the purposes of corporation tax in respect of chargeable gains, a loss accruing to a company in such circumstances that if a gain accrued the company would be exempt from corporation tax in respect of it,
" branch or agency " means any factorship, agency, receivership, branch or management,
" charges on income " has the meaning given by section 248 of this Act,
" distribution " has the meaning given by Part X of this Act with sections 284 and 285,
" the financial year 1970 " means the financial year beginning with April 1970, and similarly with references embodying other dates,
" group income " shall be construed in accordance with section 256 of this Act,
" group relief " has the meaning given by section 258 of this Act,
a source of income is " within the charge to " corporation tax or income tax if that tax is chargeable on the income arising from it, or would be so chargeable if there were any such income, and references to a person, or to income, being within the charge to tax, shall be similarly construed.
(2)Section 238(4) of this Act (definition of "profits" and " trade " for purposes of Part XI of this Act) shall also apply for the purposes of the following provisions of this Act, that is to say—
Chapter II of Part VII,
sections 304 and 305,
section 346,
sections 483 and 484,
and sections 73 and 74 of the [1968 c. 3.] Capital Allowances Act 1968.
(3)For all purposes of the Corporation Tax Acts dividends shall be treated as paid on the date when they become due and payable, except in so far as section 354(1) of this Act (authorised unit trusts) makes other provision as to amounts treated under that section as dividends.
(4)Except as otherwise provided by the Corporation Tax Acts, any apportionment to different periods which falls to be made under the Corporation Tax Acts shall be made on a time basis according to the respective lengths of those periods.