Finance (No.2) Act 1987

63 Limitation of group relief in relation to certain dual resident companies.

(1) Notwithstanding anything in the enactments relating to group relief, no loss or other amount shall be available for set off by way of group relief in accordance with section 259 of the Taxes Act if, in the material accounting period of the company which would otherwise be the surrendering company, that company is for the purposes of this section a dual resident investing company.

(2) In this section “the material accounting period” means, according to the kind of group relief which would be appropriate, the accounting period—

(a) in which the loss is incurred; or

(b) for which the capital allowances fall to be made; or

(c) for which the expenses of management are disbursed; or

(d) for which the amount is paid by way of charges on income;

but subsection (1) above does not have effect unless the material accounting period is an accounting period which begins on or after 1st April 1987.

(3) In Schedule 4 to this Act,—

(a) Part I has effect where an accounting period of a company in which it is a dual resident investing company begins before and ends on or after 1st April 1987 and references in subsections (1) and (2) above to the material accounting period shall be construed accordingly; and

(b) Part II has effect with respect to the time at which certain interest and other payments are to be treated as paid.

(4) A company is for the purposes of this section a dual resident company in any accounting period in which—

(a) it is resident in the United Kingdom; and

(b) it is also within a charge to tax under the laws of a territory outside the United Kingdom,—

(i) because it derives its status as a company from those laws; or

(ii) because its place of management is in that territory; or

(iii) because, under those laws, it is for any other reason regarded as resident in that territory for the purposes of that charge.

(5) In any accounting period throughout which it is not a trading company, a dual resident company is for the purposes of this section an investing company.

(6) In any accounting period of a dual resident company in which it is a trading company, the company is nevertheless for the purposes of this section an investing company if—

(a) in that period it carries on a trade of such a description that its main function or one of its main functions consists of all or any of the following, namely,—

(i) acquiring and holding, directly or indirectly, shares, securities or investments of any other description, including interests in companies (resident outside, as well as in, the United Kingdom) with which the dual resident company is connected, within the terms of section 533 of the Taxes Act;

(ii) making payments which, by virtue of any enactment, are charges on income for the purposes of corporation tax;

(iii) making payments (of interest or other sums) which are similar to those referred to in sub-paragraph (ii) above but which are deductible in computing the profits of the company for the purposes of corporation tax;

(iv) obtaining funds (by borrowing or in any other manner whatsoever) for the purpose of, or otherwise in connection with, any of the activities referred to in sub-paragraphs (i) to (iii) above; or

(b) it does not fall within paragraph (a) above, but in that accounting period it carries on all or any of the activities referred to in sub-paragraphs (i) to (iv) of that paragraph and does so—

(i) to an extent which does not appear to be justified by any trade which it does carry on; or

(ii) for a purpose which does not appear to be appropriate to any such trade; or

(c) in that period—

(i) the amount paid by the company by way of charges on income exceeds its profits of the period, determined as mentioned in section 259(7) of the Taxes Act (group relief); and

(ii) those charges include an amount which falls to be treated as a charge on income by virtue of section 42(2) of the [1984 c. 43.] Finance Act 1984 (discounts on bills of exchange) or paragraph 3(2) of Schedule 9 to that Act (deep discount securities); and

(iii) the paying of those charges by the company is its main activity or one of its main activities.

(7) In this section and Schedule 4 to this Act “the enactments relating to group relief” means sections 258 onwards of Chapter I of Part XI of the Taxes Act; and, except where the context otherwise requires, any expression to which a meaning is assigned for the purposes of those enactments has the same meaning in this section and that Schedule.