(1)This section has effect for facilitating certain transactions whereby trading activities carried on by a single company or group are divided so as to be carried on by 2 or more companies not belonging to the same group or by 2 or more independent groups.
(2)Where a company makes an exempt distribution which falls within section 213(3)(a) of the Taxes Act—
(a)the distribution shall not be a capital distribution for the purposes of section 122; and
(b)sections 126 to 130 shall, with the necessary modifications, apply as if that company and the subsidiary whose shares are transferred were the same company and the distribution were a reorganisation of its share capital.
(3)Subject to subsection (4) below, neither section 178 nor 179 shall apply in a case where a company ceases to be a member of a group by reason only of an exempt distribution.
(4)Subsection (3) does not apply if within 5 years after the making of the exempt distribution there is chargeable payment; and the time for making an assessment under section 178 or 179 by virtue of this subsection shall not expire before the end of 3 years after the making of the chargeable payment.
(5)In this section—
“chargeable payment” has the meaning given in section 214(2) of the Taxes Act;
“exempt distribution” means a distribution which is exempt by virtue of section 213(2) of that Act; and
“group” means a company which has one or more 75 per cent. subsidiaries together with that or those subsidiaries.
(6)In determining for the purposes of this section whether one company is a 75 per cent. subsidiary of another, the other company shall be treated as not being the owner of—
(a)any share capital which it owns directly in a body corporate if a profit on a sale of the shares would be treated as a trading receipt of its trade; or
(b)any share capital which it owns indirectly and which is owned directly by a body corporate for which a profit on the sale of the shares would be a trading receipt.