Finance (No. 2) Act 2013

Amendment of section 552 of Principal Act (acquisition, enhancement and disposal costs)

42. Section 552 of the Principal Act is amended by inserting the following subsection after subsection (1A):

“(1B) (a) In this subsection—

‘connected person’ has the same meaning as in section 10;

‘debt’ means a debt or debts, in respect of borrowed money, whether incurred by the person making the disposal of an asset or by a connected person;

‘group’ and ‘member of a group’ have the same meanings, respectively, as in section 616.

(b) Where—

(i) the amount or value of the consideration referred to in subsection (1)(a), or

(ii) the amount of any expenditure referred to in subsection (1)(b),

was defrayed either directly or indirectly out of borrowed money, the debt in respect of which is released in whole or in part (whether before, on or after the disposal of the asset), that amount shall be reduced by the lesser of the amount of the debt which is released or the amount of the allowable loss which, but for this subsection, would arise.

(c) For the purposes of paragraph (b), the date on which the whole or part of a debt is released shall be determined on the same basis as the release of the whole or part of a specified debt is treated as having been effected in section 87B(4).

(d) Where a debt is released in whole or in part in a year of assessment after the year of assessment in which the disposal of the asset takes place (such that the release of the debt was not taken into account in the computation of a chargeable gain or allowable loss on the disposal of the asset) then for the purposes of the Capital Gains Tax Acts a chargeable gain, equal to the amount of the reduction that would have been made under paragraph (b) had the release been effected in the year of assessment in which the disposal of the asset took place, shall be deemed to accrue to the person who disposed of the asset on the date on which the debt is released but, where the disposal is to a connected person, any gain under this subsection shall be treated for the purposes of section 549(3) as if it accrued on the disposal of an asset to that connected person.

(e) A chargeable gain under paragraph (d) shall not be deemed to accrue where, had a gain accrued on the disposal of the asset, it would not have been a chargeable gain or it would have qualified for relief from capital gains tax.

(f) Where a debt released is in respect of money borrowed by a member of a group of companies from another member of the group, the amount or value of the consideration referred to in subsection (1)(a), or the amount of any expenditure referred to in subsection (1)(b), shall not be reduced by the amount of that debt which is released under paragraph (b) or a chargeable gain in respect of the release of that debt shall not be deemed to accrue under paragraph (d).”.