{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/companies-act-2006/section-479",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/companies-act-2006/section-479.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/2006/46",
  "legislation_title": "Companies Act 2006",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/companies-act-2006",
  "path": "section/479",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "479",
  "heading": "Availability of small companies exemption in case of group company",
  "text": "(1) A company is not entitled to the exemption conferred by section 477 (small companies) in respect of a financial year during any part of which it was a group company unless—\n(a) the group—\n(i) qualifies as a small group in relation to that financial year, and\n(ii) was not at any time in that year an ineligible group, or\n(b) subsection (3) applies.\n(2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n(3) A company is not excluded by subsection (1) if, throughout the whole of the period or periods during the financial year when it was a group company, it was both a subsidiary undertaking and dormant.\n(4) In this section—\n(a) “group company” means a company that is a parent company or a subsidiary undertaking, and\n(b) “the group”, in relation to a group company, means that company together with all its associated undertakings.\nFor this purpose undertakings are associated if one is a subsidiary undertaking of the other or both are subsidiary undertakings of a third undertaking.\n(5) For the purposes of this section—\n(a) whether a group qualifies as small shall be determined in accordance with section 383 (companies qualifying as small: parent companies);\n(b) “ineligible group” has the meaning given by section 384(2) and (3);\n(c) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n(d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n(e) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n(6) The provisions mentioned in subsection (5) apply for the purposes of this section as if all the bodies corporate in the group were companies.",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "S. 479(1)(a) substituted (1.10.2012 with application in accordance with reg. 2 of the amending S.I.) by The Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (Accounts and Audit Exemptions and Change of Accounting Framework) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/2301), regs. 1, 5(a)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "S. 479(2) omitted (1.10.2012 with application in accordance with reg. 2 of the amending S.I.) by virtue of The Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (Accounts and Audit Exemptions and Change of Accounting Framework) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/2301), regs. 1, 5(b)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "S. 479(5)(c)(d)(e) omitted (1.10.2012 with application in accordance with reg. 2 of the amending S.I.) by virtue of The Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (Accounts and Audit Exemptions and Change of Accounting Framework) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/2301), regs. 1, 5(c)"
    },
    {
      "type": "C",
      "label": "C1",
      "text": "Ss. 477-479 applied (with modifications) (1.10.2008) by The Limited Liability Partnerships (Accounts and Audit) (Application of Companies Act 2006) Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/1911), reg. 34 (as amended: (1.10.2012 with application in accordance with reg. 2 of the amending S.I.) by S.I. 2012/2301, regs. 1, 20(3); (E.W.S.) (1.10.2018) by S.I. 2018/1030, regs. 1(2), 31(4); (31.12.2020) by S.I. 2019/177, regs. 2, 50(a) (as amended by S.I. 2020/335, regs. 1, 3, 4 and S.I. 2020/523, regs. 1(2), 22, 25(c); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)); (N.I.) (6.4.2022) by S.R. 2022/121, regs. 1, 31(4); (N.I.) (3.10.2022) by S.R. 2022/234, regs. 1, 31(4); (N.I.) (1.4.2023) by S.R. 2023/59, regs. 1, 31(4); and (N.I.) (29.9.2023) by S.R. 2023/148, regs. 1, 31(4)(5))"
    },
    {
      "type": "C",
      "label": "C2",
      "text": "Ss. 475-481 applied (with modifications) (1.10.2009) by The Unregistered Companies Regulations 2009 (S.I. 2009/2436), regs. 3-5, Sch. 1 para. 11 (with transitional provisions and savings in regs. 7, 9, Sch. 2)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/46/section/479",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T09:13:40.060156+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}