Under qualifying circumstances, Corporation Tax (CT) relief is available where a company makes a trading loss. The trading loss can be used to claim CT relief by offsetting the loss against other gains or profits of a business in the same or previous accounting period. The loss can also be set against future qualifying trading income.

There are however restrictions on ‘loss-buying’. These are situations where a person buys a trading company wholly or partly for its unused trading losses rather than solely for the inherent value of its trade or assets. The new owner usually seeks to introduce new activity into the company to keep its entitlement to loss relief.

The legislation governing this area can result in all the company’s unused carried- forward trading losses being cancelled where either:

• within any specified period, there is both; a change in the ownership of a company, and a major change in the nature or conduct of a trade carried on by the company,

or

• there is a change in ownership of a company at a time when the scale of its trading activities has become small or negligible.

For accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2017, the specified period is 5 years beginning no more than 3 years before the change in ownership occurs.

Goodwill is rarely mentioned in legislation. Most people would settle on a simple definition which would be based on the ‘extra’ value of a business over and above its tangible assets.

In the vast majority of cases when a business is sold a significant proportion of the sale price will be for the intangible assets or goodwill of the company. This is essentially a way of placing a monetary value on the business's reputation and customer relationships. Or as HMRC say in their guidance, in accounting terms, purchased goodwill is the balancing figure between the purchase price of a business and the net value of the assets acquired. Valuing goodwill is complex and there are many different methods which can be used and that vary from industry to industry.

The Corporation Tax relief restriction rules for certain acquisitions of goodwill and relevant assets changed on 1 April 2019.

Businesses can now claim Corporation Tax relief on purchases of goodwill made on or after 1 April 2019 if the:

• goodwill and relevant assets are purchased when you buy a business with qualifying intellectual property (IP)
• business is liable to Corporation Tax
• relevant assets (including goodwill) are included in the company accounts

If relief is available, it is at a fixed rate of 6.5% a year on the lower of the cost of the relevant asset or 6 times the cost of any qualifying IP assets in the business purchased. Relief is given yearly until the limit is reached and a claim is made using the Company Tax Return.

If a company has stopped trading and has no other income then the company is usually classed as dormant for Corporation Tax purposes.

A company is usually dormant for Corporation Tax if it:

• has stopped trading and has no other income, for example investments
• is a new limited company that hasn’t started trading
• is an unincorporated association or club owing less than £100 Corporation Tax
• is a flat management company

HMRC can also send a notification if they think a company is dormant. This notice will state that a company or association is dormant and is not required to pay Corporation Tax or file Company Tax Returns.

Limited companies are still required to file annual accounts and a confirmation statement even if the company is dormant for Corporation Tax and according to Companies House. A company defined as 'small' by Companies House can instead file 'dormant accounts' and doesn’t have to include an auditor’s report.

A dormant company must also ensure they deregister for VAT within 30 days of the company becoming dormant and close any unused PAYE schemes. A company can stay dormant indefinitely, however there are costs associated with this option. This might usually be done if for example a company is restructuring its operations or wants to retain use of a company name, brand or trademark.

As announced in the Budget earlier this year there will be two rates of Corporation Tax from 1 April 2023. When the new rules take effect, taxable profits up £50,000 will continue to be taxed at 19% under the new Small Business Profits Rate. Taxable profits more than £250,000 will be taxed at 25%. 

The introduction of the two new rates will once again make the issue of associated companies important to consider. Under the new rates, profits between £50,000 and £250,000 will be subject to a marginal tapering relief. This would be reduced for the number of associated companies and for short accounting periods.

A company is an ‘associated company’ of another company if one of the two has control of the other, or both are under the control of the same person or persons. 

The £250,000 limit will be divided by the total number of associated companies. For example, if two companies are deemed to be associated, both companies would pay the main CT rate of 25%, from 1 April 2023 at half the usual threshold, namely at £125,000 rather than £250,000. 

HMRC’s manuals make it clear that a company may be an associated company no matter where it is resident for tax purposes.

There are special tax reliefs for pre-trading expenses that are incurred before a business starts trading. These could include expenses that are required to help a business prepare for trading such as buying stock and equipment, renting premises, taking out insurance and initial advertising expenditure. 

A deduction may be allowed where the following conditions are met: 

• The expenditure is incurred within a period of seven years before the date the trade, profession or vocation commenced, and
• the expenditure is not otherwise allowable as a deduction in computing the profits of the trade, profession or vocation but would have been so allowable if incurred after the trade had commenced.

To be allowable, the pre-trading expenditure must be incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the relief. This means that no relief would be allowed where pre-trading expenses would not have been tax deductible if they had been incurred when the business was trading.

The business should keep accurate records relating to pre-trading expenditure to demonstrate that the expenses qualify.

Qualifying pre-trading expenditure is treated as incurred on the day on which the trade, profession or vocation is first carried on. 

Capital expenditure does not qualify for this relief but there are other special provisions for capital allowances.