Finance Act 1997

4 (1) In subsection (2) of section 293 (meaning of “qualifying company”), for paragraph (b) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“(aa) the parent company of a trading group.”

(2) After subsection (3) of that section there shall be inserted the following subsections—

“(3A) For the purposes of this section a company is the parent company of a trading group if—

(a) it has one or more subsidiaries;

(b) each of its subsidiaries is a qualifying subsidiary of the company; and

(c) the requirements of subsection (3B) below are fulfilled by what would be the business of the company and its subsidiaries if all the activities, taken together, of the company and its subsidiaries were regarded as one business.

(3B) A business fulfils the requirements of this subsection if neither the business nor a substantial part of it consists in, or in either of, the following, that is to say—

(a) activities falling within section 297(2)(a) to (g) but not within subsection (3C) below; and

(b) activities carried on otherwise than in the course of a trade.

(3C) The activities falling within this subsection are—

(a) the receiving of royalties or licence fees in circumstances where the requirements mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) of section 297(4) or (5) are satisfied in relation to the company receiving them;

(b) the letting of ships, other than oil rigs or pleasure craft, on charter in circumstances where the requirements mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (d) of section 297(6) are satisfied in relation to the company so letting them.

(3D) Activities of a company or of any of its subsidiaries shall be disregarded for the purposes of subsections (3A) to (3C) above to the extent that they consist in—

(a) the holding of shares in or securities of, or the making of loans to, one or more of the company’s subsidiaries; or

(b) the holding and managing of property used by the company or any of its subsidiaries for the purposes of—

(i) research and development from which it is intended that a qualifying trade to be carried on by the company or any of its subsidiaries will be derived; or

(ii) one or more qualifying trades so carried on.

(3E) Activities of a subsidiary of a company shall also be disregarded for the purposes of subsections (3A) to (3C) above to the extent that they consist in—

(a) the making of loans to the company; or

(b) in the case of a mainly trading subsidiary, activities carried on otherwise than in pursuance of its main purpose.

(3F) For the purposes of subsection (3E) above—

(a) “mainly trading subsidiary” means a subsidiary which, apart from purposes capable of having no significant effect (other than in relation to incidental matters) on the extent of its activities, exists wholly for the purpose of carrying on one or more qualifying trades; and

(b) that purpose shall be taken to be its main purpose.”