M1(1)Subject to subsection (7) below, this section has effect where—
(a)transactions or arrangements are effected or made to exploit the earning capacity of an individual in any occupation by putting some other person in a position to enjoy all or any part of the profits or gains or other income, or of the receipts, derived from the individual’s activities in that occupation, or anything derived directly or indirectly from any such income or receipts; and
(b)as part of, or in connection with, or in consequence of, the transactions or arrangements any capital amount is obtained by the individual for himself or for any other person; and
(c)the main object or one of the main objects of the transactions was the avoidance or reduction of liability to income tax.
(2)Any such capital amount shall for all the purposes of the Income Tax Acts be treated as being earned income of the individual which arises when the capital amount is receivable, and which is chargeable to tax under Case VI of Schedule D.
(3)In this section—
(a)references to any occupation are references to any activities of any of the kinds pursued in any profession or vocation, irrespective of whether the individual is engaged in a profession or vocation, or is employed by or holds office under some other person; and
(b)references in subsection (1) above to income or receipts include references to payments for any description of copyright or licence or franchise or other right deriving its value from the activities, including past activities, of the individual.
(4)This section shall not apply to a capital amount obtained from the disposal—
(a)of assets (including any goodwill) of a profession or vocation, or of a share in a partnership which is carrying on a profession or vocation, or
(b)of shares in a company,
in so far as the value of what is disposed of, at the time of disposal, is attributable to the value of the profession or vocation as a going concern, or as the case may be to the value of the company’s business, as a going concern.
(5)If the value of the profession, vocation or business as a going concern is derived to a material extent from prospective income or receipts derived directly or indirectly from the individual’s activities in the occupation, and for which, when all capital amounts are disregarded, the individual will not have received full consideration, whether as a partner in a partnership or as an employee or otherwise, subsection (4) above shall not exempt the part of the capital amount so derived.
(6)In subsections (4) and (5) above references to the company’s business include references to the business of any other company in which it holds shares directly or indirectly.
(7)Where on any occasion an individual obtains a capital amount consisting of any property or right which derives substantially the whole of its value from the activities of the individual, or (as in the case where the individual acquires a stock option and subsequently exercises the stock option) there are two or more occasions on which an individual obtains a capital amount consisting of any such property or right, then—
(a)tax under this section shall not be charged on any such occasion, but
(b)without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of this section or section 777, tax under this section shall be charged on the occasion when the capital amount, or any such capital amount, is sold or otherwise realised, and shall be so charged by reference to the proceeds of sale or the realised value.
(8)For the purposes of subsection (1)(b) above the cases where an individual obtains any capital amount for some other person include cases where the individual has put some other person in a position to receive the capital amount by providing that other person with something of value derived, directly or indirectly, from the individual’s activities in the occupation.
(9)This section shall apply to all persons, whether resident in the United Kingdom or not, if the occupation of the individual is carried on wholly or partly in the United Kingdom.
Marginal Citations
M1Source—1970 s.487(1)-(7)