These Regulations may be cited as the Taxes (Interest Rate) (Amendment) Regulations 2010 and shall come into force on 6th April 2010.

In regulation 5 of the Taxes (Interest Rate) Regulations 1989 in paragraph (1) for “on and after 1st March 2009, be 4.75 per cent per annum” substitute “on and after 6th April 2010, be 4.00 per cent per annum”.

Steve McCabe

Dave Watts

Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury

23rd February 2010

These Regulations amend regulation 5 of the Taxes (Interest Rate) Regulations 1989.

That regulation sets the applicable rate for the purposes of Chapter 7 of Part 3 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (“ITEPA 2003”). Chapter 7 sets out the circumstances in which employment related loans give rise to a taxable benefit on the amount by which the interest actually paid is less than the amount that would have been due if calculated at “the official rate of interest”. Section 181 of ITEPA 2003 defines the official rate of interest as, in effect, the rate specified in regulation 5.

The amendment made by these Regulations specifies, with effect from 6th April 2010, a new generally applicable rate of interest of 4.00 per cent per annum, in substitution for the rate of 4.75 per cent per annum. The rates of interest specified in relation to Japan and Switzerland in paragraph (2) of regulation 5 remain the same.

A full and final Impact Assessment has not been produced for this instrument as a negligible impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.