Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 166

Surrender of advance corporation tax

Section 166 allowed a company that had paid advance corporation tax on a dividend to surrender the benefit of that ACT to one or more fellow group members, which could then treat it as ACT paid on their own distributions.

• The surrendering company had to have paid ACT (not since repaid) on a dividend during an accounting period throughout which it was a group member for group-relief purposes.
• The benefit could be surrendered, in whole or in part, to one or more recipient companies in the same group, in such proportions as the surrendering company chose.
• The recipient was treated, for section 160 purposes, as having paid ACT on a distribution made on the same date as the underlying dividend, but could only use that ACT in its surplus-ACT calculation — not against its mainstream corporation tax.
• The claim had to be made within two years of the end of the accounting period and required the recipient company's consent, notified to the inspector in the form required by Revenue.