Finance Act 1998

Application of deductions to public departments etc

2 (1) In section 559, after subsection (5) (excess of deduction from payment to sub-contractors to be treated as deduction for the purposes of the social security legislation) there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(5A) Notwithstanding anything in the preceding provisions of this section, the requirement to make a deduction under subsection (4) above shall have effect for the purposes of section 829 (application of Income Tax Acts to public departments) as if the whole of any deduction required to be made in pursuance of that subsection were in all cases a deduction of income tax.”

(2) In subsection (2) of section 560 (persons who are contractors) after “applies” there shall be inserted “(subject to subsection (2A) below)”; and after that subsection there shall be inserted the following subsections—

“(2A) Subject to subsection (2B) below, subsection (2) above does not apply at any time to an office, department or body falling within paragraph (aa), (b), (c), (d), (e) or (ea) of that subsection unless that office, department or body has, in the period of three years ending with the 31st March next before that time, had an average annual expenditure on construction operations of more than £1,000,000.

(2B) Where the condition provided for in subsection (2A) above has been satisfied in the case of any office, department or body in relation to any period of three years, that subsection shall not prevent subsection (2) above from applying to that office, department or body until there have been three successive years after the end of that period in each of which the office, department or body has had expenditure on construction operations of less than £1,000,000.”

(3) This paragraph has effect in relation to any payments made on or after the day, or first day, that is appointed under subsection (3) of section 139 of the [1995 c. 4.] Finance Act 1995 (commencement of changes to sub-contractors scheme) for the purposes of paragraph 2 of Schedule 27 to that Act (additional public bodies etc that may be contractors).

(4) The reference in subsection (2B) of section 560 of the Taxes Act 1988 to a period of three years in relation to which the condition provided for in subsection (2A) of that section has been satisfied does not include a reference to any such period ending more than a year before the day or, as the case may be, first day mentioned in sub-paragraph (3) above.