Finance Act, 1959

Balancing allowances and balancing charges (machinery and plant).

34.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, where, on or after the 15th day of April, 1959, any of the following events occurs in the case of any machinery or plant in respect of which an initial allowance or a wear and tear allowance has been made for any year of assessment to a person carrying on a trade:

(a) any event occurring after the setting up and before the permanent discontinuance of the trade whereby the machinery or plant ceases to belong to the person carrying on the trade (whether on a sale of the machinery or plant or in any other circumstances of any description),

(b) any event occurring as aforesaid whereby the machinery or plant (while continuing to belong to the person carrying on the trade) permanently ceases to be used for the purposes of a trade carried on by him,

(c) the permanent discontinuance of the trade, the machinery or plant not having previously ceased to belong to the person carrying on the trade,

an allowance or charge (in this Chapter referred to as a balancing allowance or a balancing charge) shall, in the circumstances mentioned in this section, be made to, or, as the case may be, on, that person for the year of assessment (being a year beginning on or after the commencement of this Part of this Act) in his basis period for which that event occurs.

(2) Where there are no sale, insurance, salvage or compensation moneys or where the amount of the capital expenditure of the person in question on the provision of the machinery or plant still unallowed as at the time of the event exceeds those moneys, a balancing allowance shall be made, and the amount thereof shall be the amount of the expenditure still unallowed as aforesaid, or, as the case may be, of the excess thereof over the said moneys.

(3) If the sale, insurance, salvage or compensation moneys exceed the amount, if any, of the said expenditure still unallowed as at the time of the event, a balancing charge shall be made, and the amount on which it is made shall be an amount equal to the excess or, where the said amount still unallowed is nil, to the said moneys.

(4) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (3) of this section, in no case shall the amount on which a balancing charge is made on a person exceed the aggregate of the following amounts:

(a) the amount of the initial allowance, if any, made to him in respect of the expenditure in question,

(b) the amount of any wear and tear allowance made to him in respect of the machinery or plant in question,

(c) the amount of any scientific research allowance made to him in respect of the expenditure, and

(d) the amount of any balancing allowance previously made to him in respect of the expenditure.

(5) Where, as respects any machinery or plant, an event falling within any of the paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of subsection (1) of this section is followed by another event falling within any of those paragraphs, the later event shall not be treated as an event giving rise to a balancing allowance or balancing charge in respect of that machinery or plant.