Part of Finance Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 6:45 pm on 21st May 2002.
I beg to move amendment No. 61, in page 192, line 24, leave out 'any' and insert 'that'.
The amendment corrects a deficiency in paragraph 11. As with the credit for small and medium-sized companies, our aim for the large company measure is to keep the concept of R and D in step with accounting definitions. Accounting principles allow a company in some circumstances not to reflect R and D expenditure in the profit-and-loss account but to defer it to a future year when it may be matched by some income from the activity. In line with that, we wanted to give the R and D tax credit when expenditure appears in the profit-and-loss account, but the Bill as drafted produced the opposite effect by using the word ''any'' in paragraph 11(2). I know that the Committee will accept the amendment as I have explained and apologised for the drafting error.
Amendment agreed to.