Finance Act, 1996

Amendment of section 135 (withdrawal of relief) of Finance Act, 1994.

127.—(1) Section 135 of the Finance Act, 1994 , is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution of “ten years” for “six years” in subsection (1) (as amended by the Finance Act, 1995 ), and

(b) by the substitution of the following proviso for the proviso (inserted by the Finance Act, 1995 ) to subsection (2):

“Provided that—

(i) any land, building, machinery or plant which are comprised in the gift or inheritance and which qualify as relevant business property by virtue of section 127 (1) (e) shall, together with any similar property which has replaced such property, continue to be relevant business property for the purposes of this section for so long as they are used for the purposes of the business concerned,

(ii) this section shall not have effect where the donee or successor dies before the event which would otherwise cause the reduction to cease to be applicable,

(iii) where the event which causes the reduction to cease to be applicable occurs after the expiration of the period of six years commencing on the valuation date, then only one-third of that reduction shall cease to be applicable.”.

(2) This section shall apply to gifts or inheritances taken on or after the 23rd day of January, 1996.