CG45601 - Mergers: deferral of capital gains charge: handling

Mergers within Section 181 frequently involve the major restructuring of large groups and HMRC is prepared, whenever practicable, to give an opinion as to whether Section 181 is capable of applying to the transactions in a proposed merger.

An application for such an opinion may be –

• sent directly to HMRC’s Capital Gains Technical Group,
• enclosed with any application for statutory clearance made to AAG (Clearance & Counteraction Team) in connection with the same transactions or
• sent to the office which usually deals with the tax affairs of the group in question.

Applications received should be forwarded to Capital Gains Technical Group.

Where there is an associated statutory clearance then the decision of the Clearance & Counteraction Team on that matter will also apply for Section 181 in respect of the commercial reasons and purpose of the proposed transactions (S181(1)(b)).