Section 163A | Expenditure in anticipation of approval of abandonment programme ^F1

(1)Expenditure to which section 163(3A)(d) applies by virtue of section 163(3AA)(b) is to be treated as never having been general decommissioning expenditure for the purposes of sections 164 and 165 unless, before the end of the relevant period, condition A or condition B is met in relation to the expenditure.

(2)Condition A is that—

(a)an abandonment programme is approved, and

(b)the programme, or a condition to which the approval of the programme was subject, authorises or requires the decommissioning of the plant or machinery to which the expenditure relates.

(3)Condition B is that—

(a)a condition is imposed by the Secretary of State, or an agreement is made with the Secretary of State, before the approval of an abandonment programme, and

(b)the condition or, as the case may be, the agreement authorises or requires the decommissioning of the plant or machinery to which the expenditure relates.

(4)For the purposes of this section “the relevant period” means the period—

(a)beginning with the day on which the expenditure was incurred, and

(b)ending with the fifth anniversary of the last day of the accounting period in which the expenditure was incurred.

(5)All such assessments and adjustments of assessments are to be made as are necessary to give effect to subsection (1).

(6)If a person who has made a return becomes aware that, after making it, anything in it has become incorrect because of the operation of this section, the person must give notice to an officer of Revenue and Customs specifying how the return needs to be amended.

(7)A notice under subsection (6) must be given within 3 months beginning with the day on which the person first became aware that anything in the return had become incorrect because of the operation of this section.

(8)In this section, “abandonment programme”, “approval” and “approved” (in relation to an abandonment programme) have the same meaning as in Part 4 of the Petroleum Act 1998.