Section 290 | The trading requirement

(1)The requirement of this section is that—

(a)the relevant company, ignoring any incidental purposes, exists wholly for the purpose of carrying on one or more qualifying trades, or

(b)the relevant company is a parent company and the business of the group does not consist wholly or as to a substantial part in the carrying on of non-qualifying activities.

(2)If the relevant company intends that one or more other companies should become its qualifying subsidiaries with a view to their carrying on one or more qualifying trades—

(a)the relevant company is treated as a parent company for the purposes of subsection (1)(b), and

(b)the reference in subsection (1)(b) to the group includes the relevant company and any existing or future company that will be its qualifying subsidiary after the intention in question is carried into effect.

This subsection does not apply at any time after the abandonment of that intention.

(3)For the purposes of subsection (1)(b) the business of the group means what would be the business of the group if the activities of the group companies taken together were regarded as one business.

(4)For the purpose of determining the business of a group, activities are ignored so far as they are carried on by a mainly trading subsidiary otherwise than for its main purpose.

(5)For the purpose of determining the business of a group, activities of a group company are ignored so far as they consist in—

(a)the holding of shares in or securities of a qualifying subsidiary of the parent company,

(b)the making of loans to another group company, or

(c)the holding and managing of property used by a group company for the purpose of one or more qualifying trades carried on by a group company, or

(d)the holding and managing of property used by a group company for the purpose of research and development from which it is intended—

(i)that a qualifying trade to be carried on by a group company will be derived, or

(ii)that a qualifying trade carried on or to be carried on by a group company will benefit.

(6)Any reference in sub-paragraph (i) or (ii) of subsection (5)(d) to a group company includes a reference to any existing or future company which will be a group company at any future time.

(7)In this section—

“incidental purposes” means purposes having no significant effect (other than in relation to incidental matters) on the extent of the activities of the company in question,

“mainly trading subsidiary” means a qualifying subsidiary which, apart from incidental purposes, exists wholly for the purpose of carrying on one or more qualifying trades, and any reference to the main purpose of such a subsidiary is to be read accordingly,

“non-qualifying activities” means—

(a)excluded activities, and

(b)activities carried on otherwise than in the course of a trade.

(8)This section is supplemented by section 300 (meaning of “qualifying trade”) and sections 303 to 310 (excluded activities).