Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 Schedule 18B paragraph 3

When election takes effect

Paragraph 3 of Schedule 18B sets out when a tonnage tax election takes effect, including Revenue's discretion to allow earlier or later effective dates in certain circumstances.

• A tonnage tax election normally takes effect from the start of the accounting period in which it is made, but cannot take effect for any accounting period beginning before 1 January 2002.
• Revenue may allow an election made within the initial period to take effect from an earlier accounting period (but not before 1 January 2002), or to be postponed to a later accounting period where exceptional commercial circumstances make immediate effect impracticable.
• For a group election where member companies have different accounting periods, the effective date rules apply separately to each qualifying company by reference to its own accounting periods.
• An election under subparagraph (3) or (4) takes effect from the time the company becomes a qualifying company, but this is overridden where the company breaches the 75% limit on chartered-in tonnage in the first two accounting periods after electing into tonnage tax.