Corporation Tax Act 2010 section 357LA

Agent of independent status

Section 357LA establishes that a company will not be treated as having a Northern Ireland Regional Establishment (NIRE) merely because it carries on business in Northern Ireland through an independent agent, and signposts further rules for specific types of agent.

• A company does not have a NIRE solely because it conducts business in Northern Ireland through an agent of independent status acting in the ordinary course of that agent's business.
• Further rules in sections 357LC to 357LI set out the conditions for determining whether brokers, investment managers, and Lloyd's agents qualify as independent agents.
• The independent agent exclusion only applies where the agent is genuinely independent and is acting within the normal scope of their own business activities.
• If the agent does not meet the relevant independence conditions, the company may be regarded as having a NIRE, with consequences for how its trading profits are taxed at the Northern Ireland rate.