UK: Corporation Tax Act 2009 receives Royal Assent

Hansard reports that the Corporation Tax Act 2009 has today received Royal Assent. Explanatory notes will be published soon on OPSI. When the Bill received its second reading in the House of Lords it was described by Viscount Trenchard as the longest ever to come before Parliament (an honour - if that is the right word - formerly held by the Companies Bill, now the Companies Act 2006). At third reading in the House of Lords, Government minister Lord Davies of Oldham provided this brief overview of the Bill:

... this Bill rewrites certain basic provisions such as the charge to corporation tax and provisions used by companies in computing their income. The main aim is to make the legislation clearer, better structured and easier to use than the source legislation, which is often dense and difficult to follow. The Bill has been produced by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs Tax Law Rewrite Project. It is the first of two Bills that will rewrite corporation tax. The second will be introduced later this year, along with another which will rewrite international and other provisions, some of which apply for the purposes of both income tax and corporation tax. The work follows the success of the project’s previous Acts which rewrote the capital allowances and income tax legislation".

Update (27 March 2009): The following have been added to the OPSI website:
Explanatory Notes | Table of Origins | Table of Destinations