Taxation in the United Kingdom/Legislation/Section 148 of the Finance Act 2003

A company has a permanent establishment in a territory if, and only ifSection 148 of the Finance Act 2003: it has a fixed place of business there through which the business of the company is wholly or partly carried on, or an agent acting on behalf of the company has and habitually exercises there authority to do business on behalf of the company. For this purpose a "fixed place of business" includes: a place of management; a branch; an office; a factory; a workshop; an installation or structure for the exploration of natural resources; a mine, an oil or gas well, a quarry or any other place of extraction of natural resources; a building site or construction or installation project. A company is not regarded as having a permanent establishment in a territory by reason of the fact that it carries on business there through an agent of independent status acting in the ordinary course of his business. Also, a company is not regarded as having a permanent establishment in a territory by reason of the fact that: a fixed place of business is maintained there for the purpose of carrying on activities for the company, or an agent carries on activities there for and on behalf of the company, if, in relation to the business of the company as a whole, the activities carried on are only of a preparatory or auxiliary character, which is taken to include: the use of facilities for the purpose of storage, display or delivery of goods or merchandise belonging to the company; the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise belonging to the company for the purpose of storage, display or delivery; the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise belonging to the company for the purpose of processing by another person; purchasing goods or merchandise, or collecting information, for the company. References