Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 396D

Accelerated loss relief for certain accounting periods

Section 396D provides a temporary acceleration of corporation tax loss relief for companies whose accounting periods were affected by the Covid-19 restrictions.

• A tax-compliant company with trading losses in an accounting period that includes any part of 1 March 2020 to 31 December 2020 (a "specified accounting period") may make an interim claim to carry back up to 50% of its estimated loss against profits of the immediately preceding accounting period.
• An interim claim may be made as early as four months after the start of the specified accounting period and no later than five months after its end; where the specified period is shorter than four months, the claim may be made after its end but within five months of that date.
• A company may revise its interim claim upwards or downwards as the specified accounting period progresses; where the company realises it has overestimated its loss, it must reduce the claim without delay, and interest applies to any excess repayment received.
• The provision is spent: the last possible date by which a claim could have been made under section 396D was 30 May 2022.