(1)In this Chapter “contract payment” means any payment which is made under a construction contract and is so made by the contractor (see section 57(3)) to—
(a)the sub-contractor,
(b)a person nominated by the sub-contractor or the contractor, or
(c)a person nominated by a person who is a sub-contractor under another such contract relating to all or any of the construction operations.
(2)But a payment made under a construction contract is not a contract payment if any of the following exceptions applies in relation to it.
(3)This exception applies if the payment is treated as earnings from an employment by virtue of Chapter 7 of Part 2 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (c. 1) (agency workers).
(4)This exception applies if the person to whom the payment is made or, in the case of a payment made to a nominee, each of the following persons—
(a)the nominee,
(b)the person who nominated him, and
(c)the person for whose labour (or, where that person is a company, for whose employees' or officers' labour) the payment is made,
is registered for gross payment when the payment is made.
But this is subject to subsections (5) and (6).
(5)Where a person is registered for gross payment as a partner in a firm (see section 64), subsection (4) applies only in relation to payments made under contracts under which—
(a)the firm is a sub-contractor, or
(b)where a person has nominated the firm to receive payments, the person who has nominated the firm is a sub-contractor.
(6)Where a person is registered for gross payment otherwise than as a partner in a firm but he is or becomes a partner in a firm, subsection (4) does not apply in relation to payments made under contracts under which—
(a)the firm is a sub-contractor, or
(b)where a person has nominated the firm to receive payments, the person who has nominated the firm is a sub-contractor.
(7)This exception applies if such conditions as may be prescribed in regulations made by the Board of Inland Revenue for the purposes of this subsection are satisfied; and those conditions may relate to any one or more of the following—
(a)the payment,
(b)the person making it, and
(c)the person receiving it.
(8)For the purposes of this Chapter a payment (including a payment by way of loan) that has the effect of discharging an obligation under a contract relating to construction operations is to be taken to be made under the contract; and if—
(a)the obligation is to make a payment to a person (“A”) within paragraph (a) to (c) of subsection (1), but
(b)the payment discharging that obligation is made to a person (“B”) not within those paragraphs,
the payment is for those purposes to be taken to be made to A.