Oil Taxation Act 1975

Disposal of long-term asset formerly used in connection with an oil fieldU.K.

4(1)Where an asset is used in connection with an oil field in circumstances such that section 4 of this Act applies to any expenditure incurred in acquiring, bringing into existence, or enhancing the value of that asset, then if—U.K.

(a)the asset is disposed of for valuable consideration while in use in that connection or not more than two years after its use in that connection permanently ceases;

(b)the person making the disposal is either a participator in the field or a person connected with a participator;

(c)the person to whom the disposal is made is not a person connected with a participator; and

(d)the amount or value of the consideration received or receivable for the disposal is not less than the price which the asset might reasonably have been expected to fetch if sold in the open market at the time of the disposal,

sub-paragraphs (2) to (4) below shall have effect.

(2)If the disposal occurs without the asset permanently ceasing to be used in connection with the field, its use in that connection shall for the purposes of section 4 of this Act and the following provisions of this paragraph be deemed to have permanently ceased at the time of the disposal.

(3)If the disposal takes place not later than the end of the claim period in which the use of the asset in connection with the field permanently ceases, the proportion of the expenditure allowable under section 4 of this Act for the relevant period (that is to say the period which, in relation to that claim period, is the relevant period for the purposes of subsection (7) of that section) or, if the claim period in question is the first relevant claim period (as defined in that section), the proportion of the expenditure so allowable for that claim period shall be computed under that section subject to the provisions of sub-paragraph (5) below.

(4)If the disposal takes place after the end of the claim period in which the use of the asset in connection with the field permanently ceases, then, as regards the claim period in which the disposal takes place—

(a)subsection (7) of section 4 of this Act shall have effect in relation to the asset as if its use in that connection had permanently ceased in that claim period (but so that for the purposes of subsections (5) and (6) of that section as applied by the said subsection (7) the asset shall not be treated as having been used in that connection at any time when it was not so used); and

(b)the proportion of the expenditure allowable under that section for the relevant period (that is to say the period which, in relation to that claim period is the relevant period for the purposes of the said subsection (7)) shall be computed under that section subject to the provisons of sub-paragraph (5) below.

(5)For the purposes of the computation mentioned in sub-paragraph (3) or (4) above, as the case may be—

(a)the amount of the expenditure incurred in acquiring, bringing into existence, or enhancing the value of the asset which would otherwise fall to be taken into account shall be treated as reduced by the amount or value of the consideration received or receivable for the disposal (or, if equal to or smaller than the amount or value of that consideration, as reduced to nil); and

(b)the asset’s useful life shall be treated as having ended at the time of the disposal or, if the asset permanently ceased to be used in connection with the field before that time and was neither used nor available for use by anyone in the interval between its permanently ceasing to be so used and the time of the disposal, at the time when it permanently ceased to be so used.

(6)In any case where, for different parts of the expenditure incurred in the case of an asset as mentioned in sub-paragraph (1) above, different proportions thereof would be allowable under section 4 of this Act apart from sub-paragraph (5)(a) above (including a case where, for some but not all of that expenditure, the proportion thereof so allowable would be 100 per cent.), the amount or value of the consideration received or receivable for the disposition shall for the purposes of this paragraph be treated as referable to those different parts in such proportions as may be just and reasonable.

(7)Section 4(13) of this Act applies to the preceding provisions of this paragraph; and those provisions shall, with any necessary modifications, apply in relation to a disposal of an interest in an asset as they apply in relation to a disposal of an asset.

(8)[F1Section 1122 of CTA 2010] (connected persons) shall apply for the purposes of this paragraph.

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