IFM28008 - Real Estate Investment Trust : Distributions: The distribution requirement : CTA2010/S530
A condition of remaining in the regime is that the company (principal company for a Group REIT) must distribute 100% of “UK REIT investment profits”, plus 90% of the income profits of the property rental business of each accounting period, by the CTSA filing date for that period (CTA2010/S530). That mandatory distribution is treated as a “property income distribution” (PID).
“UK REIT investment profits” are distributions of property rental business profits and gains paid by one UK REIT to another (CTA2010/S549A). The requirement to distribute 100% of these PIDs received prevents dilution of the distribution paid to and taxed on the investors.
If the company/principal company wants to distribute more to its shareholders, there are attribution rules to determine how much of any additional distribution is from profits of the property rental business (and therefore payable as a PID under deduction of basic rate tax) or is out of profits that arose from other, taxable activities (and therefore treated as normal distributions with no requirement to deduct tax on payment). The attribution rules are set out in IFM28010 onwards.
The company/principal company should regularly review the distributions being paid to ensure it meets the 100% and 90% requirements for paying PID, as well as ensuring it does not pay out more in PIDs than the total of the UK REIT investment profits, exempt property rental business profits and exempt gains available.