Finance Act (No.2) 2017 introduced the new Corporate Interest Restriction (CIR) rules into UK tax law with effect from April 2017. Many UK companies will be familiar with the rules and the exemption for Public Benefit Infrastructure (PBIE) which can, broadly speaking, and where an election is made, remove third party debt interest and EBITDA of Qualifying Infrastructure Companies (generally speaking regulated / publicly procured assets and real estate) from the scope of the CIR. However less well known are the extension of the PBIE to ‘certain old shareholder debt’ where the asset meets strict conditions.
