INTM204010 - Controlled Foreign Companies: exemptions - Acceptable Distribution Policy ('ADP')

The ADP exemption

ICTA88/S748(1)(a) and (2)

No apportionment is required for any accounting period in which a controlled foreign company pursues an acceptable distribution policy ('ADP'). Broadly, a controlled foreign company pursues an acceptable distribution policy for an accounting period if within eighteen months of the end of the period it pays dividends representing at least 90% of its 'net chargeable profits' directly or indirectly to United Kingdom residents. Special rules apply where a company intends to pursue an acceptable distribution policy but has not yet done so at the point within the 18 month period when it completes its tax return. Details can be found at INTM214050. There are also special rules in regulations for insurance companies accounting on a funded basis which wish to pursue an acceptable distribution policy ( INTM213020). In addition, dividends paid to the United Kingdom cannot satisfy an acceptable distribution policy to the extent that they are paid out of distributions received by the controlled foreign company from the United Kingdom, which would have been exempt from tax if the controlled foreign company had been United Kingdom resident.

Dividends paid to United Kingdom resident companies must be taken into account in their corporation tax computations if they are to be included in dividends satisfying the test. Dividend payments that are involved in a United Kingdom tax avoidance scheme are excluded from the test if paid on or after 7 March 2001(see INTM204170).

Special rules governing the availability of double taxation relief for underlying tax paid in respect of dividends paid under an acceptable distribution policy were introduced by FA2000 see ICTA88/S801C. The new rules will come into effect for ADP dividends paid to the United Kingdom on or after 31 March 2001. Instructions on these rules can be found at INTM164280.

Guidance on the main elements of the ADP test itself can be found as follows.

• Attribution of dividends to accounting periods - INTM204020.
• Time limit for payment of dividends - INTM204030.
• Distribution standard - INTM204040.
• Meaning of 'net chargeable profits' - INTM204050
• Dividends payable from preceding periods - INTM204060
• Abatement of distribution standard in certain cases where there are non-resident shareholders - INTM204100.
• Dividends paid indirectly to the United Kingdom, for example, through an intermediate holding company - INTM204110 to INTM204130.
• Dividends paid out of distributions from a United Kingdom resident company - INTM204160.