It was introduced under the Oil Taxation Act 1975, soon after Harold Wilson's Labour government returned to power and in the immediate aftermath of the 1973 energy crisis, and was intended to ensure "fairer share of profits for the nation" from the exploitation of the UK's continental shelf, while ensuring a "suitable return" on the capital investment by oil companies.
After certain allowances, PRT is charged at a rate of 50% (falling to 35% from 1 Jan 2016 and was effectively abolished in the March 2016 budget)[1] on profits from oil extraction.
Profits from oil extraction activities are subject to a corporation tax "ring fence", which means that profits from these activities cannot be reduced by any losses or other tax reliefs from other business activities (the corporation tax ring fence fences off the whole oil exploration trade, not individual fields like PRT).
This group also administers the "ring fence" corporation tax and supplementary charge paid by companies on profits from oil and gas production, and previously administered the royalty charged on the gross value of oil and gas won.
[citation needed] United Kingdom primary legislation that has introduced and amended Petroleum Revenue Tax includes: