Corporation Tax Act 2010 section 45A

Carry forward of post-1 April 2017 trade loss against total profits

Section 45A allows a company to carry forward a trade loss that has not been relieved in the period it arose and set it against total profits of a later accounting period.

• Where a company makes a trade loss in an accounting period beginning on or after 1 April 2017, and all or part of that loss is not relieved against total profits or surrendered as group relief, the unrelieved amount can be carried forward to the next accounting period and set against the company's total profits on a claim being made.
• Several conditions must be met: the trade must not have become small or negligible in the loss-making period, the trade must continue into the next period, and certain statutory restrictions (such as the trade not being carried on commercially, or being carried on wholly abroad) must not apply in either the loss-making period or the later period.
• The section does not apply to ring fence trades (oil activities), to shock losses of Solvency 2 insurance companies, or where the later period is an excluded accounting period of a general insurance company. Where these exclusions apply, the loss may still be available for carry forward against profits of the same trade under section 45B.
• A claim must be made within two years after the end of the later period (or such further time as HMRC may allow), and any relief given is subject to restriction or modification under other provisions of the Corporation Tax Acts.