Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988

Relief for losses on unquoted shares in trading companies

573 Relief for companies

(1) Subsection (2) below has effect where a company which has subscribed for shares in a qualifying trading company incurs an allowable loss (for the purpose of corporation tax on chargeable gains) on the disposal of the shares in any accounting period and the company disposing of the shares—

(a) is an investment company on the date of the disposal and either—

(i) has been an investment company for a continuous period of six years ending on that date; or

(ii) has been an investment company for a shorter continuous period ending on that date and has not before the beginning of that period been a trading company or an excluded company; and

(b) was not associated with, or a member of the same group as, the qualifying trading company at any time in the period beginning with the date when it subscribed for the shares and ending with the date of the disposal.

(2) The company disposing of the shares may, within two years after the end of the accounting period in which the loss was incurred, make a claim requiring that the loss be set off for the purposes of corporation tax against income—

(a) of that accounting period; and

(b) if the company was then an investment company and the claim so requires, of preceding accounting periods ending within the time specified in subsection (3) below;

and, subject to any relief for an earlier loss, the income of any of those periods shall then be treated as reduced by the amount of the loss or by so much of it as cannot be relieved under this subsection against income of a later accounting period.

(3) The time referred to in subsection (2) above is the period of 12 months ending immediately before the accounting period in which the loss is incurred; but the amount of the reduction which may be made under that subsection in the income of an accounting period falling partly before that time shall not exceed a part of that income proportionate to the part of the accounting period falling within that time.

(4) Relief under subsection (2) above shall be given before any deduction for charges on income, expenses of management or other amounts which can be deducted from or set against or treated as reducing profits of any description; and where relief is given under that subsection in respect of the amount of a loss no deduction shall be made in respect of that amount for the purposes of corporation tax on chargeable gains.

(5) For the purposes of subsection (1)(b) above companies are associated with each other if one controls the other or both are under the control of the same person or persons; and section 416(2) to (6) shall apply for the purposes of this subsection.

(6) For the purposes of this section a company subscribes for shares in another company if they are issued to it by that other company in consideration of money or money’s worth.

574 Relief for individuals

(1) Where an individual who has subscribed for shares in a qualifying trading company incurs an allowable loss (for capital gains tax purposes) on the disposal of the shares in any year of assessment, he may, by notice given within two years after that year, make a claim for relief from income tax on an amount of his income equal to the amount of the loss; and where such relief is given in respect of the amount of a loss no deduction shall be made in respect of that amount under the 1979 Act.

(2) The following provisions shall have effect as respects relief under this section—

(a) relief may, by notice given within two years after a year of assessment, be claimed for that year in respect of a loss incurred in the preceding year of assessment so far as relief under this section in respect of that loss has not already been given in that year, and relief claimed by virtue of this paragraph shall be given in priority to any relief in respect of a loss incurred in the year for which the relief is claimed;

(b) a claim for relief may require it to be given only by reference to the income of the individual without extending to the income of his spouse;

(c) subject to paragraph (b) above, relief shall be given by treating the loss as reducing first the earned income of the individual, then his other income, then the earned income of his spouse and then his spouse’s other income;

(d) the relief shall be given in priority to relief under section 380 or 381.

(3) For the purposes of this section—

(a) an individual subscribes for shares if they are issued to him by the company in consideration of money or money’s worth; and

(b) an individual shall be treated as having subscribed for shares if his spouse did so and transferred them to him by a transaction inter vivos.

575 Exclusion of relief under section 573 or 574 in certain cases

(1) Sections 573 and 574 do not apply unless the disposal is—

(a) by way of a bargain made at arm’s length for full consideration; or

(b) by way of a distribution in the course of dissolving or winding up the company; or

(c) a deemed disposal under section 22(2) of the 1979 Act (claim that value of asset has become negligible).

(2) Where a person disposes of shares (“the new shares”) which by virtue of section 78 of the 1979 Act (reorganisation etc. treated as not involving disposal) are identified with other shares (“the old shares”) previously held by him, relief shall not be given under section 573 or 574 on the disposal of the new shares unless—

(a) relief under section 573 or 574 could (or if this section had been in force could) have been given on a disposal of the old shares if he had incurred an allowable loss in disposing of them as mentioned in subsection (1)(a) above on the occasion of the disposal that would have occurred but for section 78 of the 1979 Act; or

(b) he gave new consideration for the new shares;

but in a case within paragraph (b) above the amount of relief under section 573 or 574 on the disposal of the new shares shall not exceed the amount or value of the new consideration taken into account as a deduction in computing the loss incurred on their disposal.

(3) Where the shares are the subject of an exchange or arrangement of the kind mentioned in section 85 or 86 of the 1979 Act (company reconstructions etc.) which by reason of section 87 of that Act involves a disposal of the shares, section 573 or 574 shall not apply to any allowable loss incurred on the disposal.

576 Provisions supplementary to sections 573 to 575

(1) Where a person holds shares in a company which constitute a holding and comprise—

(a) shares for which he has subscribed (“qualifying shares”); and

(b) shares which he has acquired otherwise than by subscription,

any question whether a disposal by him of shares forming part of the holding is of qualifying shares shall be determined by treating that and any previous disposal by him out of the holding as relating to shares acquired later rather than earlier; and if a disposal by him is of qualifying shares forming part of a holding and he makes a claim under section 573 or 574 in respect of a loss incurred on their disposal, the amount of relief under that section on the disposal shall not exceed the sums that would be allowed as deductions in computing the loss if the shares had not been part of the holding.

(2) Where a claim is made under section 573 or 574 in respect of a loss accruing on the disposal of shares, section 26 of the 1979 Act (value-shifting) shall have effect in relation to the disposal as if for the references in subsections (1)(b) and (4) to a tax-free benefit there were substituted references to any benefit whether tax-free or not.

(3) There shall be made all such adjustments of corporation tax on chargeable gains or capital gains tax, whether by way of assessment or by way of discharge or repayment of tax, as may be required in consequence of relief being given under section 573 or 574 in respect of an allowable loss or in consequence of the whole or part of such a loss in respect of which a claim is made not being relieved under that section.

(4) For the purposes of sections 573 to 575 and this section a qualifying trading company is a company none of whose shares have at any time in the relevant period been quoted on a recognised stock exchange and which—

(a) either—

(i) is a trading company on the date of the disposal; or

(ii) has ceased to be a trading company at a time which is not more than three years before that date and has not since that time been an excluded company or an investment company; and

(b) either—

(i) has been a trading company for a continuous period of six years ending on that date or at that time; or

(ii) has been a trading company for a shorter continuous period ending on that date or at that time and has not before the beginning of that period been an excluded company or an investment company; and

(c) has been resident in the United Kingdom throughout the period from its incorporation until that date.

(5) In sections 573 to 575 and this section—

• “excluded company” means a company—

  (a)

  which has a trade which consists wholly or mainly of dealing in shares, securities, land, trades or commodity futures or is not carried on on a commercial basis and in such a way that profits in the trade can reasonably be expected to be realised; or

  (b)

  which is the holding company of a group other than a trading group; or

  (c)

  which is a building society or a registered industrial and provident society as defined in section 486(12);

• “group” means a company which has one or more 51 per cent. subsidiaries together with that or those subsidiaries;

• “holding” means a holding within the meaning of section 65 of the 1979 Act;

• “holding company” means a company whose business consists wholly or mainly in the holding of shares or securities of one or more companies which are its 51 per cent. subsidiaries;

• “investment company” has the meaning given by section 130 except that it does not include the holding company of a trading group;

• “new consideration” means consideration in money or money’s worth other than consideration of the kind excluded by the first proviso to section 79(1) of the 1979 Act;

• “relevant period” means the period ending with the date on which the shares in question are disposed of and beginning with the incorporation of the company, or, if later, one year before the date on which the shares were subscribed for;

• “shares” includes stock but except in the definition of “excluded company” does not include shares or stock not forming part of a company’s ordinary share capital;

• “spouse” refers to one of two spouses who are living together (construed in accordance with section 155(2) of the 1979 Act);

• “trading company” means a company other than an excluded company which is—

  (a)

  a trading company within the meaning of paragraph 7 of Schedule 19; or

  (b)

  the holding company of a trading group;

• “trading group” means a group the business of whose members, taken together, consists wholly or mainly in the carrying on of a trade or trades, but for the purposes of this definition any trade carried on by a subsidiary which is an excluded company or not resident in the United Kingdom shall be treated as not consituting a trade.