Capital Allowances Act 2001

52 First-year allowances

(1) A person is entitled to a first-year allowance in respect of first-year qualifying expenditure if—

(a) the expenditure is incurred in a chargeable period to which this Act applies, and

(b) the person owns the plant or machinery at some time during that chargeable period.

(2) Any first-year allowance is made for the chargeable period in which the first-year qualifying expenditure is incurred.

(3) The amount of the allowance is a percentage of the first-year qualifying expenditure in respect of which the allowance is made, as shown in the Table—

Table

Amount of first-year allowances

Type of first-year qualifying expenditure	Amount
Expenditure qualifying under section 40 (expenditure incurred for Northern Ireland purposes by small or medium-sized enterprises)	100%
Expenditure qualifying under section 44 (expenditure incurred by small or medium-sized enterprises)	40%
Expenditure qualifying under section 45 (ICT expenditure incurred by small enterprises)	100%

(4) A person who is entitled to a first-year allowance may claim the allowance in respect of the whole or a part of the first-year qualifying expenditure.

(5) Subsection (1) needs to be read with section 236 (first-year allowances in respect of additional VAT liabilities) and is subject to—

• section 205 (reduction of first-year allowance if plant or machinery provided partly for purposes other than those of qualifying activity),

• section 210 (reduction of first-year allowance if it appears that a partial depreciation subsidy is or will be payable), and

• sections 217, 223 and 241 (anti-avoidance: no first-year allowance in certain cases).