Finance Act 2004

Miscellaneous U.K.

55 Duty of company to give notice of coming within charge to corporation tax U.K.

(1) A company must give notice to the Board—

(a) of the beginning of its first accounting period, and

(b) of the beginning of any subsequent accounting period that does not immediately follow the end of a previous accounting period.

(2) The notice required by this section—

(a) must be in writing;

(b) must state when the accounting period began;

(c) must contain such other information as may be prescribed;

(d) may be given to any officer of the Board; and

(e) must be given not later than three months after the beginning of the accounting period.

(3) “Prescribed” in subsection (2)(c) means prescribed by regulations made by the Board.

(4) A company that has a reasonable excuse for failing to give notice as required by this section—

(a) is not to be regarded as having failed to comply with this section until the excuse ceases, and

(b) after the excuse ceases is not to be regarded as having failed to comply with this section if the required notice is given without unreasonable delay after the excuse ceases.

(5) In this section—

(a) “accounting period” means an accounting period for the purposes of corporation tax;

(b) “company” means a body corporate and does not include an unincorporated association or a partnership; and

(c) “the Board” means the Commissioners of Inland Revenue.

(6) In the second column of the Table in section 98 of the Taxes Management Act 1970 (c. 9) (penalty for failure to provide information), at the appropriate place insert— “ section 55 of the Finance Act 2004 ”.

(7) This section applies in relation to accounting periods beginning on or after the day on which this Act is passed.

[F1 55A Section 55: exception to duty to give notice U.K.

(1) A company is not required to give notice under section 55 of the beginning of an accounting period if it reasonably expects that—

(a) all the income on which it will be chargeable to corporation tax for the period will consist of payments on which it bears income tax by deduction, F2 ...

(b) it will have no chargeable gains for the period [F3 , and

(c) in consequence of the deduction of the income tax mentioned in paragraph (a) at the fourth step in paragraph 8 of Schedule 18 to the Finance Act 1998 (calculation of tax payable), the amount of tax payable for the period will be nil.]

(2) Subsection (3) applies if—

(a) by reason of subsection (1) a company is not required to give notice under section 55 of the beginning of an accounting period (“the unreported period”), and

(b) a subsequent accounting period immediately follows the end of the unreported period.

(3) The subsequent accounting period is to be treated for the purposes of section 55 as if it does not immediately follow the end of a previous accounting period.

(4) If by reason of subsection (1) ceasing to apply a company becomes subject to the duty to give notice under section 55 of the beginning of an accounting period the notice must be given not later than three months after the date on which it becomes subject to that duty.]

Textual Amendments

F1 S. 55A inserted (6.4.2020) by Finance Act 2019 (c. 1), Sch. 5 paras. 7, 35 (with Sch. 5 para. 36)

F2 Word in s. 55A(1) omitted (6.4.2020) by virtue of Finance Act 2020 (c. 14), Sch. 6 para. 7(a)

F3 S. 55A(1)(c) and word inserted (6.4.2020) by Finance Act 2020 (c. 14), Sch. 6 para. 7(b)

F4 56 Relief for community amateur sports clubs U.K.

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Textual Amendments

F4 S. 56 repealed (with effect in accordance with s. 1184(1) of the amending Act) by Corporation Tax Act 2010 (c. 4), s. 1184(1), Sch. 3 Pt. 1 (with Sch. 2)