Oil Taxation Act 1975 Schedule 6 paragraph 1

Direct claims for expenditure allowance on grounds of trade secrecy

Schedule 6 paragraph 1 allows a participator in an oil field to claim expenditure allowances directly to HMRC, bypassing the responsible person for the field, where disclosing the necessary information would compromise trade secrecy.

• A participator may claim expenditure allowances (under sections 3 or 4 of the Act) directly to HMRC instead of through the responsible person for the oil field, provided HMRC is satisfied that trade secrecy makes it unreasonable to share the required information with the responsible person.
• The claim must be made for the claim period in which the expenditure was incurred, but cannot be submitted before the field has been determined, nor more than 4 years after the end of the relevant claim period.
• If the participator incurred the expenditure before becoming a participator in the field, the claim must be made in the claim period in which they became a participator.
• This route is an alternative to the normal claims procedure under Schedule 5, which requires the responsible person for the field to submit claims on behalf of all participators.