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Commission Regulation (EC) No 1725/2003 of 29 September 2003 adopting certain international accounting standards in accordance with Regulation (EC)   No 1606/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council

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In October 1996, the Board approved a revised Standard, IAS 12 (revised 1996), income taxes which superseded IAS 12 (reformatted 1994), accounting for taxes on income. The revised Standard became effective for financial statements covering periods beginning on or after 1 January 1998.

In May 1999, IAS 10 (revised 1999), events after the balance sheet date, amended paragraph 88. The amended text became effective for annual financial statements covering periods beginning on or after 1 January 2000.

In April 2000, paragraphs 20, 62(a), 64 and Appendix A, paragraphs A10, A11 and B8 were amended to revise cross-references and terminology as a result of the issuance of IAS 40, investment property.

In October 2000, the Board approved amendments to IAS 12 which added paragraphs 52A, 52B, 65A, 81(i), 82A, 87A, 87B, 87C and 91 and deleted paragraphs 3 and 50. The limited revisions specify the accounting treatment for income tax consequences of dividends. The revised text was effective for annual financial statements covering periods beginning on or after 1 January 2001.

The following SIC interpretations relate to IAS 12:

- SIC-21: income taxes - recovery of revalued non-depreciable assets, and

- SIC-25: income taxes - changes in the tax status of an enterprise or its shareholders.

Introduction

This Standard ("IAS 12 (revised)") replaces IAS 12, accounting for taxes on income ("the original IAS 12"). IAS 12 (revised) is effective for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 1998. The major changes from the original IAS 12 are as follows.

1. The original IAS 12 required an enterprise to account for deferred tax using either the deferral method or a liability method which is sometimes known as the income statement liability method. IAS 12 (revised) prohibits the deferral method and requires another liability method which is sometimes known as the balance sheet liability method.

The income statement liability method focuses on timing differences, whereas the balance sheet liability method focuses on temporary differences. Timing differences are differences between taxable profit and accounting profit that originate in one period and reverse in one or more subsequent periods. Temporary differences are differences between the tax base of an asset or liability and its carrying amount in the balance sheet. The tax base of an asset or liability is the amount attributed to that asset or liability for tax purposes.

All timing differences are temporary differences. Temporary differences also arise in the following circumstances, which do not give rise to timing differences, although the original IAS 12 treated them in the same way as transactions that do give rise to timing differences:

(a) subsidiaries, associates or joint ventures have not distributed their entire profits to the parent or investor;

(b) assets are revalued and no equivalent adjustment is made for tax purposes; and

(c) the cost of a business combination is allocated to the identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed by reference to their fair values, but no equivalent adjustment is made for tax purposes.

Furthermore, there are some temporary differences which are not timing differences, for example those temporary differences that arise when:

(a) the non-monetary assets and liabilities of an entity are measured in its functional currency but the taxable profit or tax loss (and, hence, the tax base of its non-monetary assets and liabilities is determined in a difference currency;

(b) non-monetary assets and liabilities are restated under IAS 29, financial reporting in hyperinflationary economies; or

(c) the carrying amount of an asset or liability on initial recognition differs from its initial tax base.

2. The original IAS 12 permitted an enterprise not to recognise deferred tax assets and liabilities where there was reasonable evidence that timing differences would not reverse for some considerable period ahead. IAS 12 (revised) requires an enterprise to recognise a deferred tax liability or (subject to certain conditions) asset for all temporary differences, with certain exceptions noted below.

3. The original IAS 12 required that:

(a) deferred tax assets arising from timing differences should be recognised when there was a reasonable expectation of realisation; and

(b) deferred tax assets arising from tax losses should be recognised as an asset only where there was assurance beyond any reasonable doubt that future taxable income would be sufficient to allow the benefit of the loss to be realised. The original IAS 12 permitted (but did not require) an enterprise to defer recognition of the benefit of tax losses until the period of realisation.

IAS 12 (revised) requires that deferred tax assets should be recognised when it is probable that taxable profits will be available against which the deferred tax asset can be utilised. Where an enterprise has a history of tax losses, the enterprise recognises a deferred tax asset only to the extent that the enterprise has sufficient taxable temporary differences or there is convincing other evidence that sufficient taxable profit will be available.

4. As an exception to the general requirement set out in paragraph 2 above, IAS 12 (revised) prohibits the recognition of deferred tax liabilities and deferred tax assets arising from certain assets or liabilities whose carrying amount differs on initial recognition from their initial tax base. Because such circumstances do not give rise to timing differences, they did not result in deferred tax assets or liabilities under the original IAS 12.

5. The original IAS 12 required that taxes payable on undistributed profits of subsidiaries and associates should be recognised unless it was reasonable to assume that those profits will not be distributed or that a distribution would not give rise to a tax liability. However, IAS 12 (revised) prohibits the recognition of such deferred tax liabilities (and those arising from any related cumulative translation adjustment) to the extent that:

(a) the parent, investor or venturer is able to control the timing of the reversal of the temporary difference; and

(b) it is probable that the temporary difference will not reverse in the foreseeable future.

Where this prohibition has the result that no deferred tax liabilities have been recognised, IAS 12 (revised) requires an enterprise to disclose the aggregate amount of the temporary differences concerned.

6. The original IAS 12 did not refer explicitly to fair value adjustments made on a business combination. Such adjustments give rise to temporary differences and IAS 12 (revised) requires an entity to recognise the resulting deferred tax liability or (subject to the probability criterion for recognition) deferred tax asset with a corresponding effect on the determination of the amount of goodwill or any excess of the acquirer’s interest in the net fair value of the acquiree’s identifiable assets, liabilities and contingent liabilities over the cost of the combination. However, IAS 12 (revised) prohibits the recognition of deferred tax liabilities arising from the initial recognition of goodwill.

7. The original IAS 12 permitted, but did not require, an enterprise to recognise a deferred tax liability in respect of asset revaluations. IAS 12 (revised) requires an enterprise to recognise a deferred tax liability in respect of asset revaluations.

8. The tax consequences of recovering the carrying amount of certain assets or liabilities may depend on the manner of recovery or settlement, for example:

(a) in certain countries, capital gains are not taxed at the same rate as other taxable income; and

(b) in some countries, the amount that is deducted for tax purposes on sale of an asset is greater than the amount that may be deducted as depreciation.

The original IAS 12 gave no guidance on the measurement of deferred tax assets and liabilities in such cases. IAS 12 (revised) requires that the measurement of deferred tax liabilities and deferred tax assets should be based on the tax consequences that would follow from the manner in which the enterprise expects to recover or settle the carrying amount of its assets and liabilities.

9. The original IAS 12 did not state explicitly whether deferred tax assets and liabilities may be discounted. IAS 12 (revised) prohibits discounting of deferred tax assets and liabilities. Paragraph B16(i) of IFRS 3 Business Combinations prohibits discounting of deferred tax assets acquired and deferred tax liabilities assumed in a business combination.

10. The original IAS 12 did not specify whether an enterprise should classify deferred tax balances as current assets and liabilities or as non-current assets and liabilities. IAS 12 (revised) requires that an enterprise which makes the current/non-current distinction should not classify deferred tax assets and liabilities as current assets and liabilities.

11. The original IAS 12 stated that debit and credit balances representing deferred taxes may be offset. IAS 12 (revised) establishes more restrictive conditions on offsetting, based largely on those for financial assets and liabilities in IAS 32, financial instruments: disclosure and presentation.

12. The original IAS 12 required disclosure of an explanation of the relationship between tax expense and accounting profit if not explained by the tax rates effective in the reporting enterprise's country. IAS 12 (revised) requires this explanation to take either or both of the following forms:

(i) a numerical reconciliation between tax expense (income) and the product of accounting profit multiplied by the applicable tax rate(s); or

(ii) a numerical reconciliation between the average effective tax rate and the applicable tax rate.

IAS 12 (revised) also requires an explanation of changes in the applicable tax rate(s) compared to the previous accounting period.

13. New disclosures required by IAS 12 (revised) include:

(a) in respect of each type of temporary difference, unused tax losses and unused tax credits:

(i) the amount of deferred tax assets and liabilities recognised; and

(ii) the amount of the deferred tax income or expense recognised in the income statement, if this is not apparent from the changes in the amounts recognised in the balance sheet;

(b) in respect of discontinued operations, the tax expense relating to:

(i) the gain or loss on discontinuance; and

(ii) the profit or loss from the ordinary activities of the discontinued operation; and

(c) the amount of a deferred tax asset and the nature of the evidence supporting its recognition, when:

(i) the utilisation of the deferred tax asset is dependent on future taxable profits in excess of the profits arising from the reversal of existing taxable temporary differences; and

(ii) the enterprise has suffered a loss in either the current or preceding period in the tax jurisdiction to which the deferred tax asset relates.

The standards, which have been set in bold italic type, should be read in the context of the background material and implementation guidance in this Standard, and in the context of the "Preface to International Accounting Standards". International Accounting Standards are not intended to apply to immaterial items (see paragraph 12 of the Preface).

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