Talk:Accounting period (UK taxation)

 GA on hold — Notes left on talk page.

Good Article nomination.

I'm putting this on hold. I see the following minor problems:

1. It is well written. In this respect:

(a) it has compelling prose, and is readily comprehensible to non-specialist readers;

(d) necessary technical terms or jargon are briefly explained in the article itself, or an active link is provided.

Some aspects of this are hard to follow. No explanation is given of what it means for a company to "come within the corporation tax charge". The fact that I don't understand this even as a specialist reader (a company director with 9 years' experience) suggests that an ordinary reader would stand little chance.

Additionally, while it isn't an explicit GA requirement, I'd like to see a link in the article to the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 used as a source for most of it; I'm fairly sure this act is available online somewhere at www.opsi.gov.uk. JulesH 12:07, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and: "ICEAW Technical Release 500" and "Extra-statutory concession C12" don't provide enough information to locate the relevant references. We should have at least the name of the publisher (presumably HMRC?). JulesH 12:12, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Many thanks for your constructive comments. For my benefit, I'll number your points and then answer them over the next few days.

1. Is it readily comprehensible to non-specialist readers.

2. Explain what is meant by "come within the corporation tax charge".

3. No link to an online copy of the text of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988.

4. Providing enough info so that the Technical Release can be readily located.

5. Providing enough info so that ESC C12 can be readily located.

My responses are as follows:

1. I understand the term "non-specialist" not to mean absolutely everyone. I believe it is safe to assume that the readers of this article have some interest in the rules of UK corporation tax. A "non-specialist" in this context is someone within the intended readership but who do not have any specialist tax knowledge. I am therefore trying to write for that entire audience. You have identified that the phrase "come within the corporation tax charge" is unclear to you and I address that in 2. If there are other bits you find difficult to follow, please identify them, and I'll do my best to make them clearer.

2. I've added an explanation.

3. www.opsi.gov.uk only has legislation as originally enacted. Section 12 of ICTA (the main section in point here) has been amended often since 1988. I therefore think it would be misleading (and indeed dangerous) to link to that site. The only up-to-date online copies I'm aware of are subscription based (eg the CCH website). I have, however, added an ISBN to a hard copy of the legislation as it stood after the Finance Act 2006.

4. The publisher of the technical release is the ICAEW. That ought to be enough for someone to locate it. It must be accepted that it is a specialist release prepared for tax practitioners. I have, however, expanded "ICAEW" so the reader knows who they are and augmented the reference with a link to the online version of HMRC's Company Taxation Manual which outlines the non-statutory treatment agreed with the ICAEW.

5. The ESC was published by the Inland Revenue and should be available from its website. I've added a link to an online copy of it.

jguk 18:00, 9 January 2007 (UTC)