Finance Act, 1999

Company residence.

82.—(1) Chapter 2 of Part 2 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion after section 23 of the following section:

“23A.—(1) (a) In this section—

‘arrangements’ means arrangements having the force of law by virtue of section 826;

‘relevant company’ means a company—

(i) which is under the control, whether directly or indirectly, of a person or persons who is or are—

(I) by virtue of the law of any relevant territory, resident for the purposes of tax in a relevant territory or relevant territories, and

(II) not under the control, whether directly or indirectly, of a person who is, or persons who are, not so resident,

or

(ii) which is, or is related to, a company the principal class of the shares of which is substantially and regularly traded on one or more than one recognised stock exchange in a relevant territory or territories;

‘relevant territory’ means—

(i) a Member State of the European Communities, or

(ii) not being such a Member State, a territory with the government of which arrangements have been made;

‘tax’, in relation to a relevant territory other than the State, means any tax imposed in that territory which corresponds to income tax or corporation tax.

(b) For the purposes of—

(i) this section—

(I) a company shall be treated as related to another company if one company is a 50 per cent subsidiary of the other company or both companies are 50 per cent subsidiaries of a third company,

(II) a company shall be a 50 per cent subsidiary of another company if and so long as not less than 50 per cent of its ordinary share capital is owned directly or indirectly by that other company, and

(III) sections 412 to 418 shall apply as those sections would apply for the purposes of Chapter 5 of Part 12 if—

(A) ‘50 per cent’ were substituted for ‘75 per cent’ in each place where it occurs in those sections, and

(B) subparagraph (iii) of section 411(1)(c) were deleted,

and

(ii) the definition of ‘relevant company’ control shall be construed in accordance with subsections (2) to (6) of section 432 as if in subsection (6) of that section for ‘5 or fewer participators’ there were substituted—

(I) in so far as paragraph (i)(I) of that definition is concerned, ‘persons who, by virtue of the law of any relevant territory (within the meaning of section 23A), are resident for the purposes of tax in a relevant territory or relevant territories’, and

(II) in so far as paragraph (i)(II) of that definition is concerned, ‘persons not resident for the purposes of tax in a relevant territory (within the meaning of section 23A)’.

(2) Subject to subsections (3) and (4), a company which is incorporated in the State shall be regarded for the purposes of the Tax Acts and the Capital Gains Tax Acts as resident in the State.

(3) Subsection (2) shall not apply to a company incorporated in the State if the company is a relevant company and—

(a) carries on a trade in the State, or

(b) is related to a company which carries on a trade in the State.

(4) Notwithstanding subsection (2), a company which is regarded for the purposes of any arrangements as resident in a territory other than the State and not resident in the State shall be treated for the purposes of the Tax Acts and the Capital Gains Tax Acts as not resident in the State.”.

(2) This section shall apply—

(a) in the case of companies which are incorporated on or after the 11th day of February, 1999, as on and from that day, and

(b) in the case of companies which were incorporated before the 11th day of February, 1999, as on and from the 1st day of October, 1999.