IASB Decides On Tax Accounting

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

30 July 2010

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in London made tentative decisions on accounting for income tax at its sessions on July 19 - 23, 2010. The US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) joined some sessions.

In March 2010, the IASB decided that the revised scope of the income tax rules would include:

• Deferred tax on remeasurement of investment property at fair value;
• Uncertain tax positions, but only after the Board completes its current deliberations on IAS 37 Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets; and
• Implementation of particular proposals in the 2009 exposure draft Income Tax that received general support from respondents.

At the most recent July meeting, the IASB discussed deferred tax on remeasurement of investment properties at fair value, and tentatively decided:

• To introduce an exception to the measurement principle in paragraph 52 of IAS 12 Income Taxes. That principle requires an entity to measure deferred tax in a manner consistent with the expected manner of recovery of the asset that generates the deferred tax. When the exception applies, an entity would measure any deferred tax liability in a manner that reflects the tax that the entity will pay if it sells the asset, or if lower, the tax that it will pay if it uses the asset; and
• The exception would apply for investment properties, property, plant and equipment or intangible assets measured at fair value using the fair value model under IAS 40 Investment Property or the revaluation model in IAS 16 Property, Plant and Equipment or IAS 38 Intangible Assets. The exception would also apply for investment properties, property, plant or equipment or intangible assets measured at fair value in a business combination under IFRS 3 Business Combinations.

The IASB instructed the staff to draft an exposure draft dealing with the exception described above, so that other issues within the scope of this project do not delay the resolution of this issue.

In addition, the staff plan to ask the IASB:

• To review in September or October 2010 the issues arising from the 2009 exposure draft; and
• To consider how to proceed in October or November 2010 on uncertain tax positions, after the Board has reviewed the comment letters on the exposure draft Measurement of Liabilities in IAS 37.

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