Corporation Tax Act, 1976

Effect of release, etc., of debt in respect of loan under section 98.

99.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, where a company is assessed or liable to be assessed under section 98 in respect of a loan or advance and releases or writes off the whole or part of the debt in respect of it, then—

(a) for the purpose of computing the total income of the person to whom the loan or advance was made a sum equal to the amount so released or written off shall be treated as income received by him after deduction of income tax by virtue of section 434 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 (at the standard rate for the year of assessment in which the whole or part of the debt was released or written off) from a corresponding gross amount;

(b) no repayment of income tax shall be made in respect of that income;

(c) notwithstanding paragraph (a), the income included by virtue of that paragraph in the total income of that person shall be treated for the purposes of sections 433 (yearly interest, etc., payable wholly out of taxed profits) and 434 (interest, etc., not payable out of taxed profits) of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , as not brought into charge to income tax;

(d) for the purposes of section 4 (e) of the Finance Act, 1974 (charge to tax of income from which tax has been deducted), but not for any other purpose, any amount which is to be treated as income by virtue of paragraph (a) shall be treated as if tax had been deducted therefrom at the standard rate for the year of assessment in which the whole or part of the debt was released or written off, provided that where such amount or the aggregate of such amounts, if more than one, exceeds the amount of the individual's taxable income charged at the standard rate or a higher rate the amount of the credit under the said section 4 (e) in respect of the excess shall not, notwithstanding anything in the said section 4, exceed the amount of the tax, if any, charged on that excess.

(2) If the loan or advance referred to in subsection (1) was made to a person who has since died, or to trustees of a trust which has come to an end, this section, instead of applying to the person to whom it was made, shall apply to the person from whom the debt is due at the time of release or writing off (and if it is due from him as personal representative within the meaning of Part XXIX of the Income Tax Act, 1967 (Income in relation to Administration of Estates), the amount treated as received by him shall accordingly be, as regards the higher rates of tax, included for the purposes of that Part in the aggregate income of the estate) and subsection (1) shall apply accordingly with the necessary modifications.

(3) Where under section 98 (8) a loan or advance is deemed to have been made on the 6th day of April, 1976, and before that date the company which made the loan or advance releases or writes off the whole or part of the debt in respect of it, then for the purposes of this section the amount released or written off shall be deemed to have been so released or written off on the 6th day of April, 1976.

(4) This section shall be construed together with section 98.