CTM80210 - Groups: group relief: non coinciding accounting periods or group relationships - overview

CTA10/Ss138 to 142

The legislation in CTA10/S138 onwards limits the amount of group relief available if the surrendering and claimant companies do not have coincident accounting periods or are not members of the same group throughout an accounting period.

The legislation works by looking at the ‘overlapping period’, which is the period common to the claimant and surrendering company during which their accounting periods overlap and they are members of the same group (see CTM80225).

Profits and losses are time apportioned to the overlapping period (CTM80265), unless this would lead to an unjust or unreasonable result(CTM80260).

The amount which can be surrendered or claimed is the smaller of:

• the ‘unused part of the surrenderable amounts’ of the surrendering company, and
• the ‘unrelieved part of the claimant company’s available total profits’,

for the overlapping period.

Note that although the claimant and surrendering companies must be grouped throughout any overlapping period, they need not be in a group relationship at the time the relief is claimed, see A W Chapman Ltd v Hennessey 55TC516.