EIM45205 | Employment income provided through third parties: exclusions: commercial loans

Section 554F ITEPA 2003

If an arrangement comes through the Section 554A gateway, and the relevant step is a payment of a sum of money by way of loan, Section 554F(1) prevents the step from giving rise to Part 7A income if:

• the loan is on ‘ordinary commercial terms’, and

• there is no connection (direct or indirect) between the relevant step and a tax avoidance arrangement.

A loan is on ordinary commercial terms for Section 554F purposes if it is a loan on ordinary commercial terms within the meaning of Section 176 ITEPA 2003 (see EIM26158 onwards) with one exception (which is set out in the next paragraph).

For these purposes, you ignore conditions B and C in Section 176. Those conditions are about the varying of loans. Section 554F focuses on the payment of a sum of money by way of loan. Unless, exceptionally, varying a loan gives rise to such a payment, Section 554F will not apply to the variation.

On ‘connection between’ a step and a ‘tax avoidance arrangement’, see EIM45855.