CHAPTER 3

Corporation tax: loss relief

396. —(1) Where in any accounting period a company carrying on a trade incurs a loss in the trade, the company may make a claim requiring that the loss be set off for the purposes of corporation tax against any trading income from the trade in succeeding accounting periods, and (so long as the company continues to carry on the trade) its trading income from the trade in any succeeding accounting period shall then be treated as reduced by the amount of the loss, or by so much of that amount as cannot, on that claim or on a claim (if made) under subsection (2) or section 455 (3), be relieved against income or profits of an earlier accounting period.

(2) Where in any accounting period a company carrying on a trade incurs a loss in the trade, then, subject to subsection (4), the company may make a claim requiring that the loss be set off for the purposes of corporation tax against profits (of whatever description) of that accounting period and, if the company was then carrying on the trade and the claim so requires, of preceding accounting periods ending within the time specified in subsection (3), and, subject to that subsection and to any relief for an earlier loss, the profits of any of those periods shall then be treated as reduced by the amount of the loss, or by so much of that amount as cannot be relieved under this subsection against profits of a later accounting period.

(3) The time referred to in subsection (2) shall be a time immediately preceding the accounting period first mentioned in subsection (2) equal in length to the accounting period in which the loss is incurred; but the amount of the reduction which may be made under that subsection in the profits of an accounting period falling partly before that time shall not exceed a part of those profits proportionate to the part of the period falling within that time.

(4) Subsection (2) shall not apply to trades within Case III of Schedule D.

(5) (a) Subject to paragraph (b), the amount of a loss incurred in a trade in an accounting period shall be computed for the purposes of this section in the like manner as trading income from the trade in that period would have been computed.

(b) Where expenses of management of an assurance company (within the meaning of section 706 ) are deductible under section 83 from the profits of the accounting period in which they were incurred, or of any accounting period subsequent to that period, those expenses shall not be taken into account in computing a loss incurred in a trade of the company.

(6) For the purposes of this section, “trading income”, in relation to any trade, means the income which is to be, or would be, included in respect of the trade in the total profits of the company; but where in an accounting period a company incurs a loss in a trade in respect of which it is within the charge to corporation tax under Case I or III of Schedule D, and in any later accounting period to which the loss or any part of the loss is carried forward under subsection (1) relief in respect of the loss or that part of the loss cannot be given, or cannot wholly be given, because the amount of the trading income of the trade is insufficient, any interest or dividends on investments which would be taken into account as trading receipts in computing that trading income but for the fact that they have been subjected to tax under other provisions shall be treated for the purposes of subsection (1) as if they were trading income of the trade.

(7) Where in an accounting period the charges on income paid by a company—

(a) exceed the amount of the profits against which they are deductible, and

(b) include payments made wholly and exclusively for the purposes of a trade carried on by the company,

then, up to the amount of that excess or of those payments, whichever is the less, the charges on income so paid shall in computing a loss for the purposes of subsection (1) be deductible as if they were trading expenses of the trade.

(8) In this section, references to a company carrying on a trade are references to the company carrying on the trade so as to be within the charge to corporation tax in respect of the trade.

(9) A claim under subsection (2) shall be made within 2 years from the end of the accounting period in which the loss is incurred.

397. —(1) (a) Where a company ceasing to carry on a trade has, in any accounting period falling wholly or partly within the previous 12 months, incurred a loss in the trade, the company may claim to set the loss off for the purposes of corporation tax against trading income from the trade in accounting periods falling wholly or partly within the 3 years preceding those 12 months (or within any shorter period throughout which the company has carried on the trade) and, subject to subsections (2) and (3) and to any relief for earlier losses, the trading income of any of those accounting periods shall then be treated as reduced by the amount of the loss, or by so much of that amount as cannot be relieved under this subsection against income of a later accounting period.

(b) Relief shall not be given under this subsection in respect of any loss in so far as the loss has been orcan be otherwise taken into account so as to reduce or relieve any charge to tax.

(2) Where a loss is incurred in an accounting period falling partly outside the 12 months mentioned in subsection (1), relief shall be given under that subsection in respect of a part only of that loss proportionate to the part of the period falling within those 12 months, and the amount of the reduction which may be made under that subsection in the trading income of an accounting period falling partly outside the 3 years mentioned in that subsection shall not exceed a part of that income proportionate to the part of the period falling within those 3 years.

(3) Subsections (5) to (8) of section 396 shall apply for the purposes of this section as they apply for the purposes of section 396 (1), and relief shall not be given under this section in respect of a loss incurred in a trade so as to interfere with any relief under section 243 in respect of payments made wholly and exclusively for the purposes of that trade.

398. —(1) Notwithstanding subsection (5) of section 396 or subsection (3) of section 397 , in ascertaining for the purposes of those sections whether and to what extent a company has incurred a loss in carrying on a trade in the State through a branch or agency, the interest on, and other profits or gains from, a security held by or for the branch or agency shall be treated as a trading receipt of the trade if such interest or other profits or gains would, if sections 43 , 49 and 50 had not been enacted, have been so treated, or have been included in an amount so treated.

(2) Subsection (1) shall apply for the purposes of ascertaining whether and to what extent a company has incurred a loss where apart from that subsection the company would be treated as having incurred a loss and that loss would be—

(a) set-off against the trading income or profits (whether of that company or any other company) of, or

(b) incurred in,

an accounting period.

399.—(1) (a) Where in any accounting period a company incurs a loss in a transaction in respect of which the company is within the charge to corporation tax under Case IV of Schedule D, the company may claim to set the loss off against the amount of any income arising from such transactions in respect of which the company is assessed to corporation tax under that Case for the same or any subsequent accounting period, and the company's income in any accounting period from such transactions shall then be treated as reduced by the amount of the loss, or by so much of that amount as cannot be relieved under this section against income of an earlier accounting period.

(b) Where a company sustains a loss in a transaction which, if profit had arisen from it, would be chargeable to tax by virtue of subsection (3) or (4) of section 814 , then, if the company is chargeable totax in respect of the interest payable on the amount of money the right to which has been disposed of, the amount of that interest shall be included in the amounts against which the company may claim to set off the amount of its loss under this subsection.

(2) (a) Where in any accounting period a company is within the charge to corporation tax under Case V of Schedule D and the aggregate of the deficiencies, computed in accordance with section 97 (1), exceeds the aggregate of the surpluses as so computed, the excess may, on a claim being made in that behalf, be deducted from or set off, as far as may be, against the amount of any income in respect of which the company is assessed to corporation tax under Case V of Schedule D for previous accounting periods ending within the time specified in subsection (3), and, subject to that subsection and to any relief for an earlier excess of deficiencies, that income of any of those periods shall then be treated as reduced, as far as may be, by the amount of the excess, and any portion of the excess for which relief is not so given shall be set off against the income in respect of which the company is assessed to corporation tax under Case V of Schedule D for any subsequent accounting period.

(b) Any relief under this subsection by means of carrying forward any portion of the excess referred to in paragraph (a) shall be given as far as possible from the first subsequent assessment and, in so far as it cannot be so given, then from the next assessment and so on.

(3) The time referred to in subsection (2) shall be a time immediately preceding the accounting period first mentioned in subsection (2) equal in length to the accounting period in which the excess of deficiencies occurred; but the amount of the reduction which may be made under that subsection in the income of an accounting period falling partly before that time shall not exceed a part of that income proportionate to the part of the period falling within that time.

(4) A claim under subsection (2) shall be made within 2 years from the end of the accounting period in which the excess of deficiencies was incurred.

400. —(1) For the purposes of this section—

(a) a trade carried on by 2 or more persons shall be treated as belonging to them in the shares in which they are entitled to the profits of the trade;

(b) a trade or interest in a trade belonging to any person as trustee (otherwise than for charitable or public purposes) shall be treated as belonging to the persons for the time being entitled to the income under the trust;

(c) a trade or interest in a trade belonging to a company shall, where the result of so doing is that subsection (5) or (10) applies in relation to an event, be treated in any of the ways permitted by subsection (2).

(2) For the purposes of this section, a trade or interest in a trade which belongs to a company engaged in carrying on the trade may be regarded—

(a) as belonging to the persons owning the ordinary share capital of the company and as belonging to those persons in proportion to the amount of their holdings of that capital, or

(b) in the case of a company which is a subsidiary company, as belonging to a company which is its parent company, or as belonging to the persons owning the ordinary share capital of that parent company, and as belonging to those persons in proportion to the amount of their holdings of that capital,

and any ordinary share capital owned by a company may, if any person or body of persons has the power to secure by means of the holding of shares or the possession of voting power in or in relation to any company, or by virtue of any power conferred by the articles of association or other document regulating any company, that the affairs of the company owning the share capital are conducted in accordance with that person's or that body of persons' wishes, be regarded as owned by that person or body of persons having that power.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2)—

(a) references to ownership shall be construed as references to beneficial ownership;

(b) a company shall be deemed to be a subsidiary of another company if and so long as not less than 75 per cent of its ordinary share capital is owned by that other company, whether directly or through another company or other companies, or partly directly and partly through another company or other companies;

(c) the amount of ordinary share capital of one company owned by a second company through another company or other companies, or partly directly and partly through another company or other companies, shall be determined in accordance with subsections (5) to (10) of section 9 ;

(d) where any company is a subsidiary of another company, that other company shall be considered as its parent company unless both are subsidiaries of a third company.

(4) In determining for the purposes of this section whether or to what extent a trade belongs at different times to the same persons, persons who are relatives of one another and the persons from time to time entitled to the income under any trust shall respectively be treated as a single person, and for this purpose “relative” means husband, wife, ancestor, lineal descendant, brother or sister.

(5) (a) Where, on a company (in this section referred to as “the predecessor”) ceasing to carry on a trade, another company (in this section referred to as “the successor”) begins to carry on the trade and—

(i) on or at any time within 2 years after that event, the trade or an interest amounting to not less than a 75 per cent share in the trade belongs to the same persons as the trade or such an interest belonged to at some time within a year before that event, and

(ii) the trade is not, within the period taken for the comparison under subparagraph (i), carried on otherwise than by a company within the charge to tax in respect of the trade,

then, the Corporation Tax Acts shall apply subject to subsections (6) to (9).

(b) In subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of paragraph (a), references to the trade shall apply also to any other trade of which the activities comprise the activities of the first-mentioned trade.

(6) The trade shall not be treated as permanently discontinued nor a new trade as set up and commenced for the purpose of the allowances and charges provided for by sections 307 and 308 ; but there shall be made to or on the successor in accordance with those sections all such allowances and charges as would, if the predecessor had continued to carry on the trade, have been made to or on the predecessor, and the amount of any such allowance or charge shall be computed as if the successor had been carrying on the trade since the predecessor began to do so and as if everything done to or by the predecessor had been done to or by the successor (but so that no sale or transfer which on the transfer of the trade is made to the successor by the predecessor of any assets in use for the purpose of the trade shall be treated as giving rise to any such allowance or charge).

(7) The predecessor shall not be entitled to relief under section 397 except as provided by subsection (9) and, subject to any claim made by the predecessor under section 396 (2), the successor shall be entitled to relief under section 396 (1), as for a loss sustained by the successor in carrying on the trade, for any amount for which the predecessor would have been entitled to claim relief if the predecessor had continued to carry on the trade.

(8) Any securities within the meaning of section 748 which, at the time when the predecessor ceases to carry on the trade, form part of the trading stock belonging to the trade shall be treated for the purposes of that section as having been sold at that time in the open market by the predecessor and as having been purchased at that time in the open market by the successor.

(9) On the successor ceasing to carry on the trade—

(a) if the successor does so within 4 years of succeeding to the trade, any relief which might be given to the successor under section 397 on the successor ceasing to carry on the trade may, in so far as that relief cannot be given to the successor, be given to the predecessor as if the predecessor had incurred the loss (including any amount treated as a loss under section 397 (3)), and

(b) if the successor ceases to carry on the trade within one year of succeeding to the trade, relief may be given to the predecessor under section 397 in respect of any loss incurred by the predesessor (or any amount treated as such a loss under section 397 (3));

but, for the purposes of section 397 as it applies by virtue of this subsection to the giving of relief to the predecessor, the predecessor shall be treated as ceasing to carry on the trade when the successor does so.

(10) Where the successor ceases to carry on the trade within the period taken for the comparison under subsection (5)(a)(i) and, on its doing so, a third company begins to carry on the trade, then, no relief shall be given to the predecessor by virtue of subsection (9) by reference to that event; but, subject to that, subsections (6) to (9) shall apply both in relation to that event (together with the new predecessor and successor) and to the earlier event (together with the original predecessor and successor), but so that—

(a) in relation to the earlier event, “successor” shall include the successor at either event, and

(b) in relation to the later event, “predecessor” shall include the predecessor at either event,

and, if the conditions of this subsection are thereafter again satisfied, this subsection shall apply again in the like manner.

(11) Where, on a company ceasing to carry on a trade, another company begins to carry on the activities of the trade as part of its trade, that part of the trade carried on by the successor shall for the purposes of this subsection be treated as a separate trade, if the effect of so treating it is that subsection (5) or (10) applies to that event in relation to that separate trade, and where, on a company ceasing to carry on part of a trade, another company begins to carry on the activities of that part as its trade or part of its trade, the predecessor shall for the purposes of this section be treated as having carried on that part of its trade as a separate trade, if the effect of so treating it is that subsection (5) or (10) applies to that event in relation to that separate trade.

(12) Where under subsection (11) any activities of a company's trade are to be treated as a separate trade on the company ceasing or beginning to carry them on, any necessary apportionment shall be made of receipts or expenses.

(13) Where by virtue of subsection (12) any sum is to be apportioned and, at the time of the apportionment, it appears that it is material as respects the liability to tax (for whatever period) of 2 or more companies, any question which arises as to the manner in which the sum is to be apportioned shall, for the purposes of the tax of all those companies, be determined by the Appeal Commissioners who shall determine the question in the like manner as if it were an appeal against an assessment, and the provisions of the Income Tax Acts relating to the rehearing of an appeal and to the statement of a case for the opinion of the High Court on a point of law shall apply accordingly with any necessary modifications, and all those companies shall be entitled to appear before and be heard by the Appeal Commissioners or to make representations to them in writing.

(14) Any relief to be given under this section by means of discharge or repayment of tax shall be given on the making of a claim.

401. —(1) In this section, “major change in the nature or conduct of a trade” includes—

(a) a major change in the type of property dealt in, or services or facilities provided, in the trade, or

(b) a major change in customers, outlets or markets of the trade,

and this section shall apply even if the change is the result of a gradual process which began outside the period of 3 years mentioned in subsection (2)(a).

(2) Where—

(a) within any period of 3 years, there is both a change in the ownership of a company and (whether earlier or later in that period or at the same time) a major change in the nature or conduct of a trade carried on by the company, or

(b) at any time after the scale of the activities in a trade carried on by a company has become small or negligible and before any considerable revival of the trade, there is a change in the ownership of the company,

relief shall not be given—

(i) under section 396 by setting a loss incurred by the company in an accounting period beginning before the change of ownership against any income or other profits of an accounting period ending after the change of ownership, or

(ii) under paragraph 16 or 18 of Schedule 32 against corporation tax payable for any accounting period ending after the change of ownership.

(3) (a) In applying this section to the accounting period in which the change of ownership occurs, the part ending with the change of ownership and the part after that change shall be treated as 2 separate accounting periods, and the profits or losses of the accounting period shall be apportioned to the 2 parts.

(b) The apportionment under paragraph (a) shall be on a time basis according to the respective lengths of the 2 parts except that, if it appears that that method would operate unreasonably or unjustly, such other method shall be used as appears just and reasonable.

(4) In relation to any relief available under section 400 , subsection (2) shall apply as if any loss sustained by a predecessor company had been sustained by a successor company and as if the references to a trade included references to the trade as carried on by a predecessor company.

(5) (a) Where relief in respect of a company's losses has been restricted under this section, then, notwithstanding section 320 (6), in applying the provisions of Part 9 and of Chapter 1 of Part 29 relating to balancing charges to the company by reference to any event after the change of ownership of the company, any allowance or deduction to be made in taxing the company's trade for any chargeable period before the change of ownership shall be disregarded unless the profits or gains of that chargeable period, or of any subsequent chargeable period before the change of ownership, were sufficient to give effect to the allowance or deduction.

(b) In applying this subsection, it shall be assumed that any profits or gains are applied in giving effect to any suchallowance or deduction in preference to being set off against any loss which is not attributable to such an allowance or deduction.

(6) Where the operation of this section depends on circumstances or events at a time after the change of ownership (but not more than 3 years after that change), an assessment to give effect to this section shall not be out of time if made within 10 years from that time or the latest of those times.

(7) Schedule 9 shall apply for the purpose of supplementing this section.