LLM7050 - Double taxation relief: individual Names: allocation of foreign tax: US and Canadian tax

US federal tax

The payment of US tax is administered centrally by Lloyd’s Members Support Unit (MSU). The tax available for relief and the UK tax year to which it is allocated are reported to Names on the syndicate taxation advice CTA1 for the appropriate year.

US tax due to be paid in one calendar year is allocated to the UK tax year corresponding to the calendar year next but two after the calendar year in which it was due. Regulations then permit double tax relief on that basis (regulation 6 SI1997/405). For instance, US tax paid in 2003 is included in the foreign tax pool of 2005-06, and will appear on the Name’s CTA1 (2005).

The rationale for this is that US tax paid in 2003 will be in respect of Lloyd’s US profits of calendar year 2003. The profits in the USA from membership of Lloyd’s are measured as though syndicates are ongoing businesses, and not discrete annual ventures. This means that the profits attributable to any particular US tax year reflect elements of profits that arise in three or more different years of assessment for UK purposes. US 2003 profits will include some of the profits from the 2001, 2002 and 2003 accounts. Rather than attempt to disaggregate the US tax and apportion it to the UK tax years where the profits arise, the tax is attributed to the account which contributes the largest element of the US measure of profits, namely the middle year. In this example it is the 2002 account the profits of which for UK tax purposes arise in 2005-06.

Canadian federal tax

The payment of Canadian tax is also administered centrally by Lloyd’s MSU. The tax available for relief and the UK tax year to which it is allocated are reported to Names on the syndicate taxation advice CTA1 for the appropriate year.

The measure of Lloyd’s profits which arises in Canada is based, like ours, on the profit of the year of account, so the difficulties that result from the US measure of Lloyd’s US profits do not arise with Canadian foreign tax.

Details of allocation of Canadian tax are given by regulation 7 SI1997/405.