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The HMRC Tax Law Rewrite project, which is modernising UK direct tax law so that it is clearer and easier to use, has published a draft of its fifth Bill.

In a written statement to Parliament the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Jane Kennedy MP, said:

"I am pleased to tell the House that Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs will shortly publish a draft of the Tax Law Rewrite project's fifth Bill, the Corporation Tax Bill, which is the first of two Bills which will rewrite substantially the whole of the primary legislation relating to corporation tax. This Bill will cover the basic provisions relating to the charge to corporation tax and includes the main provisions used by companies in computing their income."

The statement also says that:

• the scope of this new Bill and the timing of consultation was agreed with the project's Consultative and Steering Committees which together include the main representative bodies and other interested parties;
• it benefits from a style and presentation structure that has been developed as a result of consultation over the previous rewrite Bills;
• the Bill's provisions have already benefited from extensive discussions between HM Revenue & Customs and the tax profession.

The Bill commences the rewrite of the corporation tax code. It includes:

• the basic corporation provisions including the charge to tax, accounting periods and provisions relating to company residence;
• provisions relating to trading and property income and income from other sources;
• special provisions for companies affecting the computation of income, such as those for loan relationships, derivative contracts and intangibles; and
• provisions governing particular types of expenditure, for example, expenditure on research and development and films.

Copies of all the project's publications and the IA are also available on the Internet at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rewrite.