Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 76C

Use of different accounting policies within a group of companies

Section 76C is an anti-avoidance measure that prevents companies within a group from gaining tax advantages by using different accounting standards (IFRS versus Irish GAAP) when transacting with each other.

• A "tax advantage" includes any reduction, avoidance or deferral of a tax charge, or any increase in a tax refund or payment, including potential or prospective amounts.
• Where an IFRS-reporting company and an associated Irish GAAP-reporting company enter into a transaction or series of transactions, and the IFRS company would otherwise gain a tax advantage, that advantage is denied by requiring its profits to be computed using Irish GAAP.
• A "series of transactions" is broadly defined and is not prevented from being a series merely because both companies are not parties to every transaction, or because one or both companies are not parties to the arrangement under which the transactions take place.
• The provision applies automatically — no avoidance motive needs to be present — and a group relief claim between companies is not itself treated as a transaction for the purposes of this section.