Finance Act 1997

66 Expenditure on production wells etc

(1) After section 91B of the Taxes Act 1988 there shall be inserted the following section—

“91C Mineral exploration and access

Where—

(a) a person carrying on a trade incurs expenditure on mineral exploration and access as defined in section 121(1) of the [1990 c. 1.] Capital Allowances Act 1990 in an area or group of sands in which the presence of mineral deposits in commercial quantities has already been established, and

(b) if the presence in that area or group of sands of mineral deposits in commercial quantities had not already been established, that expenditure would not have been allowed to be deducted in computing the profits or gains of the trade for the purposes of tax,

that expenditure shall not be so deducted.”

(2) In section 115 of the Capital Allowances Act 1990 (certain expenditure on purchased assets treated as expenditure on mineral exploration and access if attributable to previous trader’s expenditure on mineral exploration and access), after subsection (2) there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(2A) Expenditure incurred by the previous trader which is or has been deducted in computing, for the purposes of tax, the profits or gains of a trade carried on by him shall not be treated as expenditure on mineral exploration and access for the purposes of subsection (1)(b).”

(3) Subsection (1) above applies to expenditure which—

(a) is incurred on or after 26th November 1996; but

(b) is not incurred before 26th November 1997 in pursuance of a contract entered into before 26th November 1996.

(4) The reference in subsection (3) above to expenditure incurred in pursuance of a contract entered into before 26th November 1996 does not, in the case of a contract varied on or after that date, include a reference to so much of any expenditure of the sort described in section 91C of the Taxes Act 1988 as exceeds the amount of expenditure of that sort that would have been incurred if that contract had not been so varied.

(5) Subsection (2) above applies in relation to claims made on or after 26th November 1996.