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Finance (No. 2) Bill

I am grateful to the Minister for putting on the record his clarification of the important point about the timing of the claim that people can make and its being in line with UK group relief rules. One outstanding issue remains. At the end of the accounting period, the overseas company must be aware of its current position and its ability to offset losses that it has incurred against profits of other group companies in the same territory, as well as whether there is the prospect of relieving those losses against future profits to be made. That is a difficult issue, because if there is any prospect whatsoever of profits being made in the next accounting period—for example, if some trading is still taking place—the losses cannot be relieved. If, however, a business has taken the decision to close during the accounting period, at the accounting period end it will know that there is no future prospect of relieving those profits. That issue of how much knowledge a business must have at the end of an accounting period is problematic. It leads to a difficulty in applying the ECJ judgment. It is in line with the Government’s strategy of applying the most restrictive interpretation of the ECJ judgment. I suspect that companies may wish to return to it in future. Given the Minister’s confirmation of the date of the filing deadline, and notwithstanding my concerns about information that a business must have at the end of the accounting period to determine whether it can carry forward losses and whether they are available for relief elsewhere, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.