Finance Act 1994

Assessment under Cases I and II of Schedule D

200 Assessment on current year basis

For section 60 of the Taxes Act 1988 there shall be substituted the following section—

“60 Assessment on current year basis

(1) Subject to subsection (2) below and section 63A, income tax shall be charged under Cases I and II of Schedule D on the full amount of the profits or gains of the year of assessment.

(2) Where, in the case of a trade, profession or vocation, a basis period for the year of assessment is given by subsection (3) below or sections 61 to 63, the profits or gains of that period shall be taken to be the profits or gains of the year.

(3) Subject to sections 61 to 63, the basis period for a year of assessment is as follows—

(a) if the year is the first year of assessment in which there is an accounting date which falls not less than 12 months after the commencement date, the period of 12 months ending with that accounting date; and

(b) if there is a basis period for the immediately preceding year and that basis period is not given by section 61, the period of 12 months beginning immediately after the end of that basis period.

(4) In the case of a person who, if he had not died, would under the provisions of this section and sections 61 to 63A have become chargeable to income tax for any year, the tax which would have been so chargeable—

(a) shall be assessed and charged on his personal representatives, and

(b) shall be a debt due from and payable out of his estate.

(5) In this section and sections 61 to 63—

• “accounting date”, in relation to a year of assessment, means a date in the year to which accounts are made up or, where there are two or more such dates, the latest of those dates;

• “the commencement date” and “the commencement year” mean respectively the date on which and the year of assessment in which the trade, profession or vocation is set up and commenced.”

201 Basis of assessment at commencement

For section 61 of the Taxes Act 1988 there shall be substituted the following section—

“61 Basis of assessment at commencement

(1) Notwithstanding anything in section 60, where the year of assessment is the commencement year, the computation of the profits or gains chargeable to income tax under Case I or II of Schedule D shall be made on the profits or gains arising in the year.

(2) Subject to section 63, where the year of assessment is the year next following the commencement year and—

(a) there is an accounting date in the year and the period beginning with the commencement date and ending with the accounting date is a period of less than 12 months; or

(b) the basis period for the year would, apart from this subsection, be given by section 62(2) and the period beginning with the commencement date and ending with the new date in the year is a period of less than 12 months,

the basis period for the year is the period of 12 months beginning with the commencement date.

(3) In this section “the new date” has the same meaning as in section 62.”

202 Change of basis period

For section 62 of the Taxes Act 1988 there shall be substituted the following section—

“62 Change of basis period

(1) Subsection (2) below applies where, in the case of a trade, profession or vocation—

(a) an accounting change, that is, a change from one accounting date (“the old date”) to another (“the new date”), is made or treated as made in a year of assessment; and

(b) either section 62A applies or the year of assessment is the year next following or next but one following the commencement year.

(2) The basis period for the year of assessment is as follows—

(a) if the year is the year next following the commencement year or the relevant period is a period of less than 12 months, the period of 12 months ending with the new date in the year; and

(b) if the relevant period is a period of more than 12 months, that period;

and in this subsection “the relevant period” means the period beginning immediately after the end of the basis period for the preceding year and ending with the new date in the year.

(3) Where subsection (2) above does not apply as respects an accounting change made or treated as made in a year of assessment (“the first year”), this section and section 62A shall have effect in relation to the next following year (“the second year”) as if the change had not been made or treated as made.

(4) As a consequence of subsection (3) above—

(a) an accounting change shall be treated as made in the second year if the date or, as the case may be, the latest date in that year to which accounts are made up is a date other than the date of the end of the basis period for the first year; and

(b) no such change shall be treated as made in the second year if that date is the date of the end of that period.

(5) For the purposes of this section an accounting change is made in the first year of assessment in which accounts are not made up to the old date, or accounts are made up to the new date, or both.”

203 Conditions for such a change

After section 62 of the Taxes Act 1988 there shall be inserted the following section—

“62A Conditions for such a change

(1) This section applies in relation to an accounting change if the following are fulfilled, namely—

(a) the first and second conditions mentioned below, and

(b) either the third or the fourth condition so mentioned.

(2) The first condition is that the first accounting period ending with the new date does not exceed 18 months.

(3) The second condition is that notice of the accounting change is given to an officer of the Board on or before the 31st January next following the year of assessment.

(4) The third condition is that no accounting change as respects which section 62(2) has applied has been made or treated as made in any of the five years immediately preceding the year of assessment.

(5) The fourth condition is that—

(a) the notice required by the second condition sets out the reasons for which the change is made; and

(b) either the officer is satisfied that the change is made for bona fide commercial reasons or he does not, within 60 days of receiving the notice, give notice to the person carrying on the trade, profession or vocation that he is not so satisfied.

(6) An appeal may be brought against the giving of a notice under subsection (5)(b) above within the period of 30 days beginning with the date on which the notice is given.

(7) Subject to subsection (8) below, the provisions of the Management Act relating to appeals shall have effect in relation to an appeal under subsection (6) above as they have effect in relation to an appeal against an assessment to tax.

(8) On an appeal under subsection (6) above section 50(6) to (8) of the Management Act shall not apply but the Commissioners may—

(a) if they are satisfied that the change is made for bona fide commercial reasons, set the notice under subsection (5)(b) above aside; or

(b) if they are not so satisfied, confirm that notice.

(9) Obtaining a tax advantage shall not be regarded as a bona fide commercial reason for the purposes of subsections (5) and (8) above.

(10) In this section—

(a) “accounting period” means a period for which accounts are made up, and

(b) expressions which are also used in section 62 have the same meanings as in that section.”

204 Basis of assessment on discontinuance

For section 63 of the Taxes Act 1988 there shall be substituted the following section—

“63 Basis of assessment on discontinuance

Where a trade, profession or vocation is permanently discontinued in a year of assessment other than the commencement year, the basis period for the year shall be the period beginning—

(a) where the year is the year next following the commencement year, immediately after the end of the commencement year, and

(b) in any other case, immediately after the end of the basis period for the preceding year of assessment,

and (in either case) ending with the date on which the trade, profession or vocation is permanently discontinued.”

205 Overlap profits and overlap losses

After section 63 of the Taxes Act 1988 there shall be inserted the following section—

“63A Overlap profits and overlap losses

(1) Where, in the case of any trade, profession or vocation, the basis period for a year of assessment is given by section 62(2)(b), a deduction shall be made in computing the profits or gains of that year of an amount equal to that given by the formula in subsection (2) below.

(2) The formula referred to in subsection (1) above is—

where—

A

=

the aggregate of any overlap profits less the aggregate of any amounts previously deducted under subsection (1) above;

B

=

the number of days in the basis period;

C

=

the number of days in the year of assessment;

D

=

the aggregate of the overlap periods of any overlap profits less the aggregate number of days given by the variable “B— C” in any previous applications of this subsection.

(3) Where, in the case of any trade, profession or vocation, the basis period for a year of assessment is given by section 63, a deduction shall be made in computing the profits or gains of that year of an amount equal to—

(a) the aggregate of any overlap profits, less

(b) the aggregate of any amounts deducted under subsection (1) above.

(4) Where, in the case of any trade, profession or vocation, an amount of a loss would, apart from this subsection, fall to be included in the computations for two successive years of assessment, that amount shall not be included in the computation for the second of those years.

(5) In this section—

• “overlap profit” means an amount of profits or gains which, by virtue of sections 60 to 62, is included in the computations for two successive years of assessment; and

• “overlap period”, in relation to an overlap profit, means the number of days in the period in which the overlap profit arose.”