161.-Exceptions from section 160.

[(1) The cash equivalent of the benefit of any such loan as is referred to in section 160(1) is not to be treated as emoluments of the employment if-

(a) at no time in the year does the amount outstanding on the loan (or, if two or more such loans as are referred to in section 160(1) are outstanding in the year, the aggregate of the amounts outstanding on them) exceed £5000, or
(b) where paragraph (a) above does not apply, the loan is not a qualifying loan and at no time in the year does the amount outstanding on the loan (or, if two or more such loans as are referred to in section 160(1) and are not qualifying loans are outstanding in the year, the aggregate of the amounts outstanding on them) exceed £5000.

(1A) Section 160(1) does not in any year apply to a loan made at any time in that or an earlier year by a person in the ordinary course of a business carried on by him which includes the lending of money if-

(a) comparable loans were available, at the time the loan in question was made, to all those who might be expected to avail themselves of the services which he provides in the course of that business,
(b) of the total number of the loan in question and comparable loans made by him at or about the time the loan in question was made, a substantial proportion were made to members of the public at large with whom he was dealing at arm's length, and
(c) the loan in question, and comparable loans in general made by him at or about that time to members of the public at large with whom he was dealing at arm's length, are held on the same terms and, if those terms differ from the terms applicable immediately after the loan was first made, they were imposed in the ordinary course of his business.

(1B) For the purposes of subsection (1A) above, a loan is comparable to the loan in question if it is made for the same or similar purposes, and on the same terms and conditions, as that loan^{153 154}.]
(2)
Where the amount of interest paid on a loan for the year in which it is made is not less than interest at the official rate applying for that year for the purposes of section 160 and the loan is made-

(a) for a fixed and unvariable period; and
(b) at a fixed and unvariable rate of interest,

subsection (1) of that section shall not apply to the loan in any subsequent year by reason only of an increase in the official rate since the year in which the loan was made.
(3) Where a loan was made at any time before 6th April 1978-

(a) for a fixed and unvariable period; and
(b) at a fixed and unvariable rate of interest,

section 160(1) shall not apply to the loan if ...¹⁵⁵ the rate of interest is not less than such rate as could have been expected to apply to a loan on the same terms (other than as to the rate of interest) made at that time between persons not connected with each other (within the meaning of section 839) dealing at arm's length.
(4)
If the employee ...¹⁵⁵ derived no benefit from a loan made to a relative of his, section 160(1) and (2) above shall not apply to that loan.
(5) Section 160(2) does not apply where the amount released or written off is chargeable to income tax as income of the employee apart from that section, except-

(a) where it is chargeable only by virtue of section 148; or
(b) to the extent that the amount exceeds the sums previously falling to be treated as the employee's income under section 677.

(6) On the employee's death-

(a) a loan within subsection (1) of section 160 ceases to be outstanding for the purposes of the operation of that subsection; and
(b) no charge arises under subsection (2) of that section by reference to any release or writing-off which takes effect on or after the death.

(7)
Section 160(2) does not apply to benefits received in pursuance of arrangements made at any time with a view to protecting the holder of shares acquired before 6th April 1976 from a fall in their market value.