Finance Act 1991

107 Allowance of expenditure of participator meeting defaulter’s field abandonment expenditure. U.K.

(1) In Schedule 5 to the principal Act (procedure for allowance of expenditure) at the beginning of paragraph (b) of sub-paragraph (4) of paragraph 2 (claim must state the shares, by reference to their respective interests in the oil field, in which participators propose to divide expenditure) there shall be inserted “Subject to paragraph 2A below ”.

(2) After paragraph 2 of Schedule 5 to the principal Act there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“2A (1) This paragraph applies where—

(a) a claim is made under this Schedule for the allowance of any expenditure which is incurred after 30th June 1991 and is allowable for an oil field by virtue of paragraph (i) or paragraph (j) of subsection (1) of section 3 of this Act (in this paragraph referred to as “the abandonment expenditure);

(b) a participator (in this paragraph referred to as “the defaulter) has defaulted on his liability under a relevant agreement to make a payment towards the abandonment expenditure;

(c) at the end of the claim period for which the claim is made, the defaulter still has an interest in the oil field which falls to be taken into account in determining, under paragraph 2(4)(b) above, the shares of each of the participators in the abandonment expenditure;

(d) the participators (other than any who have defaulted as mentioned in paragraph (b) above) have taken all reasonable steps by way of legal remedy to secure that the defaulter meets the whole of the liability referred to in paragraph (b) above and to enforce any guarantee or other security provided in respect of that liability; and

(e) one or more of those participators has paid an amount in or towards meeting the whole or any part of the payment for which the defaulter was liable as mentioned in paragraph (b) above.

(2) For the purposes of this paragraph, a participator is to be regarded as defaulting on his liability to make a payment as mentioned in sub-paragraph (1)(b) above if he has failed to make the payment in full on the date on which it becomes due under the relevant agreement and either—

(a) on the sixtieth day after that due date any of the payment remains unpaid; or

(b) before that sixtieth day the participator’s interest in a relevant licence becomes liable under the relevant agreement to be sold or forfeited, in whole or in part, by reason of his failure to meet his liability.

(3) In this paragraph—

(a) “relevant agreement has the meaning given by section 104(5)(a) of the Finance Act 1991;

(b) “the sum in default means so much of the payment referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(b) above as has neither been paid by the defaulter nor met by virtue of any such guarantee or security as is referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(d) above;

(c) the “default payment means the amount which the qualifying participator has paid as mentioned in sub-paragraph (1)(e) above; and

(d) a “qualifying participator means a participator who falls within sub-paragraph (1)(e) above and who is not connected with the defaulter, applying section 839 of the Taxes Act (connected persons) for the purposes of this paragraph.

(4) For the purposes of paragraphs 2(4)(b) and 3(1)(c) of this Schedule, there shall be attributed to a qualifying participator (as an addition to the share of the abandonment expenditure referable to his own interest in the oil field) whichever is the less of—

(a) the default payment; and

(b) subject to sub-paragraph (5) below, that portion of the sum in default which, in accordance with the relevant agreement, the qualifying participator is required to meet in the event of a failure by the defaulter to meet his liability to pay in full the payment referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(b) above.

(5) If, in the case of any oil field, there are only two participators and one of them is the defaulter, the portion referred to in sub-paragraph (4)(b) above is the whole.

(6) Where this paragraph applies, account shall, in the first instance, be taken under paragraph 2(4)(b) above of the whole of the defaulter’s interest in the oil field in determining the share of the abandonment expenditure which, apart from sub-paragraph (4) above, is to be attributed to each of the other participators; but the amount of the abandonment expenditure which, apart from this paragraph, would be attributed to the defaulter by reference to his interest in the oil field shall be reduced (or, as the case may be, extinguished) by deducting therefrom any expenditure attributed to the other participators under sub-paragraph (4) above.”