ACCA递延税在SR考试中的侧重点

The SBR exam

It is important to appreciate that deferred tax can arise in respect of many different types of asset or liability and not just non-current assets as discussed above.Therefore,for SBR it is more important that candidates understand the principles behind deferred tax so that they can be applied to any given situation.Some of the situations that may be seen are discussed below.In all of the following situations,assume that the applicable tax rate is 25%.

Deferred tax assets

It is important to be aware that temporary differences can result in needing to record a deferred tax asset instead of a liability.Temporary differences affect the timing of when tax is paid or when tax relief is received.While normally they result in the payment being deferred until the future or relief being received in advance(and hence a deferred tax liability)they can result in the payment being accelerated or relief being due in the future.

In these latter situations the temporary differences result in a deferred tax asset arising(or where the entity has other larger temporary differences that create deferred tax liabilities,a reduced deferred tax liability).

Whether an individual temporary difference gives rise to a deferred tax asset or liability can be ascertained by applying the following rule:

EXAMPLE 1

Suppose that at the reporting date the carrying amount of a non-current asset is$2,800 while its tax base is$3,500,as shown in Table 6 above.

In this scenario,the carrying amount of the asset has been written down to below the tax base.This might be because an impairment loss has been recorded on the asset which is not allowable for tax purposes until the asset is sold.The entity will therefore receive tax relief on the impairment loss in the future when the asset is sold.

The deferred tax asset at the reporting date will be 25%x$700=$175.

It is worth noting here that revaluation gains,which increase the carrying amount of the asset and leave the tax base unchanged,result in a deferred tax liability.Conversely,impairment losses,which decrease the carrying amount of the asset and leave the tax base unchanged,result in a deferred tax asset.

EXAMPLE 2

At the reporting date,inventory which cost$10,000 has been written down to its net realisable value of$9,000.The write down is ignored for tax purposes until the goods are sold.

The write off of inventory will generate tax relief,but only in the future when the goods are sold.Hence the tax base of the inventory is not reduced by the write off.Consequently,a deferred tax asset of 25%x$1,000=$250 as shown in Table 8 should be recorded at the reporting date.

EXAMPLE 3

At the reporting date,an entity has recorded a liability of$25,000 in respect of pension contributions due.Tax relief is available on pension contributions only when they are paid.

The contributions will only be recognised for tax purposes when they are paid in the future.Hence the pension expense is currently ignored within the tax computations and so the liability has a nil tax base,as shown in Table 8.The entity will receive tax relief in the future and so a deferred tax asset of 25%x$25,000=$6,250 should be recorded at the reporting date.

Group financial statements

When dealing with deferred tax in group financial statements,it is important to remember that a group does not legally exist and so is not subject to tax.Instead,tax is levied on the individual legal entities within the group and their individual tax assets and liabilities are cross-cast in the consolidation process.To calculate the deferred tax implications on consolidation adjustments when preparing the group financial statements,the carrying amount refers to the carrying amount within the group financial statements while the tax base will be the tax base in the entities’individual financial statements.【点击免费下载>>>更多ACCA学习相关资料】

Fair value adjustments

At the date of acquisition,a subsidiary’s net assets are measured at fair value.The fair value adjustments may not alter the tax base of the net assets and hence a temporary difference may arise.Any deferred tax asset/liability arising as a result is included within the fair value of the subsidiary’s net assets at acquisition for the purposes of calculating goodwill.

Goodwill

Goodwill only arises on consolidation–it is not recognised as an asset within the individual financial statements.Theoretically,goodwill gives rise to a temporary difference that would result in a deferred tax liability as it is an asset with a carrying amount within the group financial statements but will have a nil tax base.However,IAS 12 specifically excludes a deferred tax liability being recognised in respect of goodwill.

Provisions for unrealised profits(PUPs)

When goods are sold between group companies and remain in the inventory of the buying company at the year-end,an adjustment is made to remove the unrealised profit from the consolidated financial statements.This adjustment also reduces the inventory to the original cost when a group company first purchased it.However,the tax base of the inventory will be based on individual financial statements and so will be at the higher transfer price.Consequently,a deferred tax asset will arise.Recognition of the asset and the consequent decrease in the tax expense will ensure that the tax already charged to the individual selling company is not reflected in the current year’s consolidated Statement of Profit or Loss but will be matched against the future period when the profit is recognised by the group.

EXAMPLE 4

P owns 100%of the equity share capital of S.P sold goods to S for$1,000 recording a profit of$200.All of the goods remain in the inventory of S at the year-end.Table 9 shows that a deferred tax asset of 25%x$200=$50 should be recorded within the group financial statements.

Measurement of deferred tax

IAS 12 states that deferred tax assets and liabilities should be measured based on the tax rates that are expected to apply when the asset/liability will be realised/settled.Normally,current tax rates are used to calculate deferred tax on the basis that they are a reasonable approximation of future tax rates and that it would be too unreliable to estimate future tax rates.

Deferred tax assets and liabilities represent future taxes that will be recovered or that will be payable.It may therefore be expected that they should be discounted to reflect the time value of money,which would be consistent with the way in which other liabilities are measured.IAS 12,however,does not permit or allow the discounting of deferred tax assets or liabilities on practical grounds.

The primary reason behind this is that it would be necessary for entities to determine when the future tax would be recovered or paid.In practice this is highly complex and subjective.Therefore,to require discounting of deferred tax liabilities would result in a high degree of unreliability.Furthermore,to allow but not require discounting would result in inconsistency and so a lack of comparability between entities.

Deferred tax and the framework

As we have seen,IAS 12 considers deferred tax by taking a“balance sheet”approach to the accounting problem by considering temporary differences in terms of the difference between the carrying amounts and the tax values of assets and liabilities–also known as the valuation approach.This can be said to be consistent with the approach taken to recognition in the International Accounting Standards Board’s Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting®(the Conceptual Framework).However,the valuation approach is applied regardless of whether the resulting deferred tax will meet the definition of an asset or liability in its own right.

Thus,IAS 12 considers the overriding accounting issue behind deferred tax to be the application of matching–ensuring that the tax consequences of an item reported within the financial statements are reported in the same accounting period as the item itself.

For example,in the case of a revaluation surplus,since the gain has been recognised in the financial statements,the tax consequences of this gain should also be recognised–that is to say,a tax charge.In order to recognise a tax charge,it is necessary to complete the double entry by also recording a corresponding deferred tax liability.

However,part of the Conceptual Framework’s definition of a liability is that there is a‘present obligation’.Therefore,the deferred tax liability arising on the revaluation gain should represent the current obligation to pay tax in the future when the asset is sold.However,since there is no present obligation to sell the asset,there is no present obligation to pay the tax.

Therefore,it is also acknowledged that IAS 12 is inconsistent with the Conceptual Framework to the extent that a deferred tax asset or liability does not necessarily meet the definition of an asset or liability.

Sally Baker and Tom Clendon are tutors at Kaplan Financial

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