Advance corporation tax

In the United Kingdom, the advance corporation tax (ACT) was part of a partial dividend imputation system introduced in 1973 under which companies were required to withhold tax on dividends before they were distributed to shareholders. The scheme was similar to the way banks were required to withhold an amount at a set rate on interest earned on bank deposits before it is paid to the account holder.

In general, this payment meant that the recipients of the dividend were considered to have already paid basic rate tax on the dividend income. Non-taxpayers, such as pension funds, who would not otherwise have paid income tax on the dividend income, became entitled to claim a refund of the ACT amount, or after 1993 a lesser amount. The refund of ACT for non-taxpayers was scrapped in 1997, and in 1999 the ACT was itself scrapped, effectively making dividend income of non-taxpayers tax-free again.

The amount of ACT paid by a company could also be offset against the company's profits reducing its final corporation tax bill. The ACT was scrapped in 1999.