Monday 5 December 2016

UK: Draft Finance Bill changes to patent box - including CSA interests

From today's draft Finance Bill overview:

"2.13. Patent Box: cost sharing for collaborative Research and Development (R&D)

As announced at Autumn Statement 2016, the government will legislate in Finance Bill 2017 to add specific provisions to the revised Patent Box rules introduced in Finance Act 2016, covering the case where R&D is undertaken collaboratively by 2 or more companies under a ‘cost sharing arrangement’ (CSA). The provisions will ensure that companies are neither penalised nor able to gain an advantage under these rules by organising their R&D in this way.
The new rules provide that:
  • where a company acquires an interest in or increases its interest in a CSA, an appropriate amount of the consideration paid counts as acquisition cost for the purpose of calculating the R&D fraction, to the extent any Intellectual Property (IP) assets are held within the CSA
  • where a company disposes of an interest or reduces its interest in a CSA, an appropriate amount of any consideration received is treated as IP income, to the extent any IP assets are held within the CSA
  • activity of participants in the CSA to develop IP or products is appropriately treated in the company’s R&D fraction
This has effect for accounting periods commencing on or after 1 April 2017. Draft legislation (provision 24) and a TIIN has been published on 5 December."
This should be filed under "not particularly surprising", it's been a gap in the legislation/guidance for some time.

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