Notes to the Accounts
For the year ended 31 December 2008
17. Deferred tax
The following are the major deferred tax assets and liabilities recognised by the Group, and the movements thereon, during the current and prior reporting periods.
| Accelerated tax depreciation £’000 |
Share-based payments £’000 |
Tax losses £’000 |
Other £’000 |
Total £’000 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At 1 January 2007 | 288 | (5,686) | (3,114) | (935) | (9,447) |
| Recognised in equity for the year | – | 3,652 | – | – | 3,652 |
| Recognised in profit or loss for the year | (104) | 87 | 1,708 | (1,261) | 430 |
| Exchange differences | – | – | 384 | – | 384 |
| At 1 January 2008 | 184 | (1,947) | (1,022) | (2,196) | (4,981) |
| Recognised in equity for the year | – | 24 | – | – | 24 |
| Recognised in profit or loss for the year | – | 508 | (1,624) | 474 | (642) |
| Exchange differences | – | – | – | – | – |
| At 31 December 2008 | 184 | (1,415) | (2,646) | (1,722) | (5,599) |
Certain deferred tax assets and liabilities have been offset in accordance with the Group’s accounting policy. The following is the analysis of the deferred tax balances (after offset) for balance sheet purposes:
| 2008 £’000 |
2007 £’000 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Deferred tax assets | (6,496) | (4,998) |
| Deferred tax liabilities | 897 | 17 |
| 5,599 | (4,981) |
At 31 December 2008, unremitted earnings of overseas Group companies amounted to £104.6m (2007: £78.6m). Unremitted earnings may be liable to some overseas and UK tax (after allowing for double taxation relief) if they were to be distributed as dividends. However, no tax is expected to be payable due to the split of unremitted earnings between lower taxed jurisdictions and higher taxed jurisdictions.
Certain of the Group’s overseas operations have current and prior year tax losses, the future utilisation of which is uncertain. Accordingly the Group has not recognised a deferred tax asset of £1.4m (2007: £1.3m) in respect of tax losses of overseas companies. These tax losses are available to offset future taxable profits in the respective jurisdictions.
All of the deferred tax asset for losses of £2.6m is dependent on generating future taxable profits. Of the recognised deferred tax asset, £1.5m is recognised within territories that were loss making in the current year.