Section 259BB | Meaning of “payment”, “quasi-payment”, “payer”, “payee” etc ^F1

(1)In this Part “payment” means any transfer—

(a)of money or money's worth directly or indirectly from one person (“the payer”) to one or more other persons, and

(b)in relation to which (disregarding this Part and any equivalent provision under the law of a territory outside the United Kingdom) an amount (a “relevant deduction”) may be deducted from the payer's income for a taxable period (the “payment period”) for the purposes of calculating the payer's taxable profits.

(2)For the purposes of this Part, there is a “quasi-payment”, in relation to a taxable period (the “payment period”) of a person (“the payer”), if (disregarding this Part and any equivalent provision under the law of a territory outside the United Kingdom)—

(a)an amount (a “relevant deduction”) may be deducted from the payer's income for that period for the purposes of calculating the payer's taxable profits, and

(b)making the assumptions in subsection (4), it would be reasonable to expect an amount of ordinary income to arise to one or more other persons as a result of the circumstances giving rise to the relevant deduction.

(3)But a quasi-payment does not arise under subsection (2) if—

(a)the relevant deduction is an amount that is deemed, under the law of the payer jurisdiction, to arise for tax purposes, and

(b)the circumstances giving rise to the relevant deduction do not include any economic rights, in substance, existing between the payer and a person mentioned in subsection (2)(b).

(4)The assumptions are that (so far as would not otherwise be the case)—

(a)any question as to whether an entity is a distinct and separate person from the payer is determined in accordance with the law of the payer jurisdiction,

(b)any persons to whom amounts arise, or potentially arise, as a result of the circumstances giving rise to the relevant deduction adopt the same approach to accounting for those circumstances as the payer, and

(c)any persons to whom amounts arise, or potentially arise, as a result of those circumstances—

(i)are, under the law of the payer jurisdiction, resident in that jurisdiction for tax purposes, and

(ii)carry on a business, in connection with which those circumstances arise, in the payer jurisdiction.

(5)In this Part—

(a)references to a quasi-payment include all the circumstances giving rise to the relevant deduction mentioned in subsection (2)(a), and

(b)references to a quasi-payment being made are to those circumstances arising.

(6)In this Part “payee” means—

(a)in the case of a payment, any person—

(i)to whom the transfer is made as mentioned in subsection (1)(a), or

(ii)to whom an amount of ordinary income arises as a result of the payment, and

(b)in the case of a quasi-payment, any person—

(i)to whom it would be reasonable to expect an amount of ordinary income to arise as mentioned in subsection (2)(b), or

(ii)to whom an amount of ordinary income arises as a result of the quasi-payment.

(7)For the purposes of this Part, in the case of a quasi-payment, the payer is “also a payee” if—

(a)an entity is not a distinct and separate person from the payer for the purposes of a tax charged under the law of the United Kingdom,

(b)that entity is a distinct and separate person from the payer for the purposes of a tax charged under the law of the payer jurisdiction, and

(c)it would be reasonable to expect an amount of ordinary income to arise to that entity as mentioned in subsection (2)(b).

(8)In this section “payer jurisdiction” means the jurisdiction under the law of which the relevant deduction may (disregarding this Part and any equivalent provision under the law of a territory outside the United Kingdom) be deducted.

(9)In this Part “payee jurisdiction”, in relation to a payee, means a territory in which—

(a)the payee is resident for tax purposes under the law of that territory, or

(b)the payee has a permanent establishment.