Corporation Tax relief may be available when a company or organisation makes a trading loss. The loss may be used to claim relief from Corporation Tax by offset against other gains or profits of the business in the same or previous accounting period.

The loss can also be set against future qualifying trading income. Any claim for trading losses forms part of the company tax return. The trading profit or loss for Corporation Tax purposes is worked out by making the usual tax adjustments to the figure of profit or loss shown in the company or organisation’s financial accounts.

Some of the basic requirements for a trade loss to be set off against other income sources include:

• being within the charge to Corporation Tax
• the trade must be carried on a commercial basis and with a view to the realisation of profit
• at least some of the trade must be carried out within the UK

The rules for the Corporation Tax treatment of carried forward losses changed from 1 April 2017. The changes increased flexibility to set off carried forward losses against total profits of the same company or another company in a group whilst at the same time introduced new restrictions as to the amount of profits against which carried forward losses can be set. Any losses carried forward prior to 1 April 2017 fall under the old loss relief rules and must be handled accordingly.

The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) provides independent advice to the government on simplifying the UK tax system, with the object of reducing compliance burdens on both businesses and individual taxpayers. The OTS operates on a permanent, statutory footing and seeks to draw together expertise from across the tax and legal professions, the business community and other interested parties. 

A report published by the OTS last year examined a number of ideas to help make the calculation of Corporation Tax simpler. The report focused on introducing a simpler tax regime for smaller companies, aligning the tax rules more closely with accounting rules, simplifying tax relief for capital investment and examining various issues affecting large companies. For example, one of the recommendations was to allow the very smallest companies, to use the accounting profit prepared under accounting standard FRS105 as the taxable profit without any adjustments.

Whilst the report mainly dealt with Corporation Tax, some of the ideas could also be relevant for unincorporated businesses. The report also considered the introduction of Making Tax Digital, and various measures to make the tax system more straightforward for the many small businesses throughout the country. The consultation outcome has recently been updated. It will be interesting to see if any changes are announced in the run-up to the Budget later this year.

HMRC defines a director’s loan as money taken from your company (by you or other close family members) that isn’t:

• a salary, dividend or expense repayment and
• money you’ve previously paid into or loaned the company

An overdrawn director’s loan account is created when a director effectively ‘borrows’ company money. A record of these loans must be kept in a director’s loan account (DLA). Small business owners need to be mindful that withdrawing funds from their company can have unwanted tax consequences for both the company and the director. The tax rules are further complicated if the value of the loan exceeds £10,000.

Where certain DLA’s are not paid off within nine months and one day of the company’s year-end there is an additional Corporation Tax (CT) bill of 32.5% of the outstanding amount (prior to April 2016 this rate was 25%). In most cases this is not a permanent loss of revenue for the company as a claim can be made to have this CT refunded (but not interest) when the loan is paid back to the company. It is important to ensure that the claim to have the CT refunded is made within 4 years after the end of the year in which the participator’s loan was repaid.

Planning note

The use of DLA’s as a means of extracting money from your company needs to be carefully considered with proper analysis of the tax impact for both the company and director. Please call if you need more information on this topic.

The security deposit legislation is to be extended to both Corporation Tax and Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) deductions from April 2019. The security deposit regime allows HMRC to require security from high-risk businesses where there is a serious risk that taxes owed will not be paid.

At present HMRC’s security deposit powers only apply to VAT, PAYE and National Insurance Contributions, Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) and some environmental and gambling taxes. This measure will give HMRC the power to require securities in relation to Corporation Tax and CIS deductions.

There are many reasons for non-payment of tax to HMRC including phoenixism where businesses evade tax by becoming repeatedly insolvent and a new company being set-up. These measures also target businesses that build up large debts to HMRC. The extension of these powers to Corporation Tax and Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) deductions will help target businesses that seek to fail to comply with their tax obligations.

The required security will usually be payable by electronic payment to a specified HMRC bank account, by cheque, by banker’s draft, a specified bank guarantee or by way of a payment into a joint HMRC/taxpayer bank account. The amount of security required is calculated on a case by case basis. If the business does not meet HMRC’s security deposit requirement they will have committed an offence and will be subject to a fine. Businesses required to pay a security deposit will have the option to appeal any decision by HMRC.

The rules for the Corporation Tax treatment of carried forward losses changed from 1 April 2017. The changes increased flexibility to set off carried forward losses against total profits of the same company or another company in a group whilst at the same time introducing new restrictions as to the amount of profits against which carried forward losses can be set.

A number of further changes to the Corporation Tax treatment of carried forward losses rules were included in the draft Finance Bill 2018-19. These measures make some amendments to the reform of loss relief rules to correct some anomalies.

The first change relates to the treatment of Basic Life Assurance and General Annuity Business (BLAGAB). We are told in HMRC’s policy paper that the inclusion of the special BLAGAB rules in the loss reform legislation created an unintended consequence that may result in relief for carried-forward losses being claimed in excess of that intended. Furthermore, the ‘BLAGAB rules’ do not fully meet the policy objective as they restrict losses using a measure of profit that is in part not subject to Corporation Tax and this can lead to excessive relief.

The other aspects of the legislation that require changes to ensure that they work as intended are as follows:

• the deductions allowance 
• terminal relief
• transfer of a trade without a change of ownership
• oil and gas losses

The change relating to BLAGAB was made effective from 6 July 2018 with all other changes expected to come into force from 1 April 2019.