COM95060 - payments: quarterly instalment payments: intra group surrenders S963 CTA2010 (formerly S102 FA 1989) and QIP regulation 9

Where a company has made one or more instalment payments and is subsequently entitled to a refund of some or all of that tax, instead of receiving a repayment, Regulation 9 extends S963 CTA 2010 (formerly S102 FA 1989) so that the company can surrender part or all of the refund to another group company or companies.

Where a company has successfully claimed a repayment under Regulation 6 (see COM125060 and CTM92650), it may also choose instead to surrender it under Regulation 9.

For the purposes of S963 CTA 2010, companies are members of the same group only if they qualify to be treated as such for group relief purposes.

A surrender can only take place if the:

  • company making the claim is entitled to a refund on the date the claim is made
  • overpayment has arisen in respect of payments made in good faith on account of the claiming company’s own estimated tax liability.

Regulation 9 only applies in relation to Corporation Tax paid by instalments on account of the surrendering company’s own liability. Either the donating or receiving company must be a quarterly instalment payment (QIP) case for a claim to be made.

The surrendering company must give notice to the caseworker at the time when the joint surrender notice is given, specifying the payment or payments out of which the refund is to be treated as made. The caseworker makes the surrender using function REWD (Reallocation Within COTAX) and the reallocated payments retain their original EDPs. See COM122020 for more information about giving effect to these surrenders.

The effect of a surrender under Regulation 9 is to enable a group of companies to neutralise the effect of debit and credit interest that it would otherwise suffer when too much instalment tax had been paid by one company and not enough by another or others.

The CT Unit Cumbernauld should not reallocate an amount to another company. Any request to reallocate an amount to another company should be referred to the caseworker to consider whether the proposals are acceptable under S963.

As a Group Payment Arrangement (GPA) is not itself a company, neither S963 nor its extension under Regulation 9 can apply between a GPA and an individual company. This is true whether or not that company is a participator in the arrangement. Individual participating companies can receive surrenders from group companies under S963, including its extension under Regulation 9, but they cannot make surrenders of Corporation Tax under Regulation 9 until the status of the group payment period is cleared for the AP.

See:

  • the Company Taxation Manual (CTM) at CTM92740 to CTM92760 for more information
  • COM95012 for legislation applying to this subject.