Financial Instruments Tax and Accounting Review
The taxation of embedded derivatives and equity instruments
Martin Bardsley is an interim treasury and tax specialist and can be contacted at martinbardsley@hotmail.com
Introduction
The taxation of embedded derivatives and equity instruments is a difficult and complex area, with the legislation governing
the tax treatment of both being found in the derivative contracts legislation in Part 7 Corporate Tax Act 2009. Depending
on the particular features of the embedded derivative or equity instrument, the tax treatment can be any of a tax nothing
(ie ignored for tax purposes), taxed on income account or taxed on capital account. Furthermore, settling different parts
of the embedded derivative or equity instruments in different ways (eg cash settlement or conversion of a convertible loan
note) can give rise to a different tax treatment for each part.