Corporation Tax Act, 1976

Shares in subsidiary member of a group.

137.—(1) This section has effect if a company (in this section called “the subsidiary”) ceases to be a member of a group of companies, and on an earlier occasion shares in the subsidiary were disposed of by another company (in this section called “the chargeable company”) which was then a member of that group in the course of an amalgamation or reconstruction in the group, but only if that earlier occasion fell—

(a) on or after the 27th day of November, 1975, and

(b) within the period of ten years ending with the date on which the subsidiary ceases to be a member of the group;

and references in this section to a company ceasing to be a member of a group of companies do not apply to cases where a company ceases to be a member of a group by being wound up or dissolved or in consequence of another member of the group being wound up or dissolved.

(2) The chargeable company shall be treated, for all the purposes of the Capital Gains Tax Act, 1975 , as if immediately before the earlier occasion it had sold, and immediately reacquired, the said shares at market value at that time, and for the purposes of this subsection if the earlier occasion fell on or before the 5th day of April, 1976, it shall be deemed to have fallen on the 6th day of April, 1976.

(3) If, before the subsidiary ceases to be a member of the group, the chargeable company has ceased to exist, or a resolution has been passed, or an order made, for the winding up of the company, or any other act has been done for the like purpose, any corporation tax to which, if the chargeable company had continued in existence, it would have been chargeable in consequence of this section may be assessed and charged (in the name of the chargeable company) on the company which is, at the time when the subsidiary ceases to be a member of the group, the principal company of the group.

(4) If any of the corporation tax assessed on a company in consequence of this section, or in pursuance of subsection (3), is not paid within six months from the date when it becomes payable, then—

(a) a company which is on the said date, or was on the earlier occasion, the principal company of the group, and

(b) any company taking an interest in the subsidiary as part of the amalgamation or reconstruction in the group,

may at any time within two years from the time when the tax became payable, be assessed and charged (in the name of the chargeable company) to all or any part of that tax; and a company paying any amount of tax under this subsection shall be entitled to recover a sum of that amount from the chargeable company, or as the case may be from the company assessed under subsection (3).

(5) Notwithstanding any limitation on the time for making assessments, an assessment to corporation tax chargeable in consequence of this section may be made at any time within ten years from the time when the subsidiary ceased to be a member of the group and, in relation to any disposal of the property after the earlier occasion, there shall be made all such adjustments of tax, whether by way of assessment or by way of discharge or repayment of tax, as may be required in consequence of the provisions of this section.

(6) For the purposes of this section there is a disposal of shares in the course of an amalgamation or reconstruction in a group of companies if paragraph 4 or 5 of Schedule 2 to the Capital Gains Tax Act, 1975 (company amalgamations), applies to shares in a company so as to equate them with shares in or debentures of another company, and the companies are members of the same group, or become members of the same group as a result of the amalgamation or reconstruction.

(7) Where by virtue of paragraph 5 of the said Schedule 2 shares are to be treated as cancelled and replaced by a new issue, references in this section to a disposal of shares include references to the occasion of their being so treated.