Telecommunications Act 1984

72Tax provisions

(1)Subject to subsection (2) below and paragraph 39 of Schedule 5 to this Act, the successor company shall be treated for all purposes of corporation tax and development land tax as if it were the same person as British Telecommunications.

(2)The successor company shall not by virtue of subsection (1) above be regarded as a body falling within section 272(5) of the [1970 c. 10.] Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1970 (bodies established for carrying on industries or undertakings under national ownership or control) or subsection (10) of section 23 of the [1976 c. 24.] Development Land Tax Act 1976 (statutory undertakers); and subsection (1) above shall not be regarded as preventing the vesting in the successor company of an interest of British Telecommunications constituting a disposal for the purposes of the said section 23.

(3)Where, in the discharge of any liability which is vested in the successor company by this Act, the successor company makes payments to a retirement benefits scheme with a view to the provision of relevant benefits for persons who are employees of the Post Office, the Tax Acts shall have effect in relation to those payments—

(a)as if those persons were employees of the successor company ; and

(b)where the scheme is an exempt approved scheme, as if paragraph (a) of the proviso to section 21(3) of the [1970 c. 24.] Finance Act 1970 were omitted ;

and in this subsection expressions which are also used in Chapter II of Part II of the said Act of 1970 have the same meanings as in that Chapter.

(4)The vesting in the successor company by virtue of section 60 above of liability for any loan made to British Telecommunications shall not affect any direction in respect of the loan which has been given by the Treasury under section 416 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1970 (income tax exemption for interest on foreign currency securities).

(5)If the transfer date falls before the end of the period of three years beginning with 1st October 1981, then, for the purposes of section 29 of the [1983 c. 55.] Value Added Tax Act 1983 (value added tax: group registration) the successor company, the Post Office and any bodies corporate resident in the United Kingdom which are subsidiaries of either of those bodies shall be eligible to be treated as members of a group from that date until the end of that period; and where, by virtue of this subsection, two or more bodies are so treated, the Commissioners of Customs and Excise shall, as soon as practicable after the end of that period, terminate that treatment from such date as may be specified in the notice.