Finance Act 1996

88 Exemption from section 87 in certain cases

(1) Subject to subsection (5) below, where a creditor relationship of a company is one to which that company is a party in any accounting period in exempt circumstances, any connection for that accounting period between the company and a person who stands in the position of a debtor as respects the debt shall be disregarded for the purposes of section 87 above.

(2) A company having a creditor relationship in any accounting period shall, for that period, be taken for the purposes of this section to be a party to that relationship in exempt circumstances if—

(a) the company, in the course of carrying on any activities forming an integral part of a trade carried on by that company in that period, disposes of or acquires assets representing creditor relationships;

(b) that period is one for which the company uses an authorised mark to market basis of accounting as respects all the creditor relationships represented by assets acquired in the course of those activities;

(c) the asset representing the creditor relationship in question was acquired in the course of those activities;

(d) that asset is either—

(i) listed on a recognised stock exchange at the end of that period; or

(ii) a security the redemption of which must occur within twelve months of its issue;

(e) there is a time in that period when assets of the same kind as the asset representing the loan relationship in question are in the beneficial ownership of persons other than the company; and

(f) there is not more than three months, in aggregate, in that accounting period during which the equivalent of 30 per cent. or more of the assets of that kind is in the beneficial ownership of connected persons.

(3) An insurance company carrying on basic life assurance and general annuity business and having a creditor relationship in any accounting period shall, for that period, be taken for the purposes of this section to be a party to that relationship in exempt circumstances if—

(a) assets of the company representing any of its creditor relationships are linked for that period to its basic life assurance and general annuity business;

(b) that period is one for which the company uses an authorised mark to market basis of accounting as respects all the creditor relationships of the company represented by assets that are so linked;

(c) the asset representing the creditor relationship in question is so linked;

(d) that asset is either—

(i) listed on a recognised stock exchange at the end of that period; or

(ii) a security the redemption of which must occur within twelve months of its issue;

(e) there is a time in that period when assets of the same kind as the asset representing the creditor relationship in question are in the beneficial ownership of persons other than the company; and

(f) there is not more than three months, in aggregate, in that accounting period during which the equivalent of 30 per cent. or more of the assets of that kind is in the beneficial ownership of connected persons.

(4) For the purposes of subsections (2) and (3) above—

(a) assets shall be taken to be of the same kind where they are treated as being of the same kind by the practice of any recognised stock exchange, or would be so treated if dealt with on such a stock exchange; and

(b) a connected person has the beneficial ownership of an asset wherever there is, or (apart from this section) would be, a connection (within the meaning of section 87 above) between—

(i) the person who has the beneficial ownership of the asset, and

(ii) a person who stands in the position of a debtor as respects the money debt by reference to which any loan relationship represented by that asset subsists.

(5) Where for any accounting period—

(a) subsection (1) above has effect in the case of a creditor relationship of a company, and

(b) the person who stands in the position of a debtor as respects the debt in question is also a company,

that subsection shall not apply for determining, for the purposes of so much of section 87 above as relates to the corresponding debtor relationship, whether there is a connection between the two companies.

(6) Subsection (5) of section 87 above shall apply for the purposes of this section as it applies for the purposes of that section.

(7) In this section “basic life assurance and general annuity business” and “insurance company” have the same meanings as in Chapter I of Part XII of the Taxes Act 1988, and section 432ZA of that Act (linked assets) shall apply for the purposes of this section as it applies for the purposes of that Chapter.