Commentary on Sections Overview Overview Section 57: Car or motor cycle hire: supplementary
236.This section defines various terms and is based on section 578B of ICTA. The corresponding rule for income tax is in section 49 of ITTOIA.
237.Section 578B(2) of ICTA defines “qualifying hire car” for the purposes of section 578A of ICTA as a car hired under a hire-purchase agreement subject to an option to purchase which is exercisable for a nominal amount.
238.Not all hire-purchase agreements require the hirer to exercise an option at the end of the hire period. Under some types of agreement, ownership of the vehicle passes automatically to the hirer at the end of the hire period. So subsection (2)(a) of this section extends the definition of “qualifying hire car or motor cycle” to include a car or motor cycle where ownership passes without the exercise of an option to purchase. See Change 10 in Annex 1.