Corporation Tax Act 2010 section 357WBC

Disqualified firm

Section 357WBC defines when a partnership is treated as a "disqualified firm" for the purposes of the Northern Ireland corporation tax rate rules, based on tax avoidance arrangements and the location of partners' working time or workforce expenses.

• A firm is a "disqualified firm" if it has a Northern Ireland Regional Establishment (NIRE) in the period as a result of tax avoidance arrangements (Condition A) and meets a workforce test (Condition B).
• Condition B is met if 50% or more of the firm's UK workforce working time, or 50% or more of its UK workforce expenses, are attributable to partners working outside Northern Ireland.
• "Tax avoidance arrangements" are any arrangements whose sole or main purpose is to ensure that the firm's profits or losses are treated as Northern Ireland profits or losses, and "arrangements" is broadly defined to include any agreement, understanding, scheme, transaction or series of transactions, whether or not legally enforceable.
• The same supplementary rules that apply to the Northern Ireland workforce partnership conditions under section 357WBA (including regulations made under that section and the provisions of section 357WBB) also apply when determining whether a firm is disqualified.