Annex 1: Minor Changes in the Law Change 2: Trading income: omission of references to a company carrying on a profession or a vocation: section 35 (and other sections) Corporate bodies and professions The nature of a profession
A profession is carried on by a person who uses his or her professional skills, knowledge and training to carry on the distinctive work of the profession, whether it is sculpting, school teaching, the work of an architect etc. Although a professional person can delegate some of his or her work, it is never the case that the possession of knowledge, or the carrying on of activities, by one individual can constitute the carrying on of a profession by another individual. There is no reason why the position should be any different between a company and an individual.
Since the person who has the skills and knowledge and does the professional work must be an individual, it appears that only an individual can carry on a profession. This conclusion is founded on ordinary notions of what is involved in carrying on a profession, and coincides with the instinct that a person who carries on the profession of architecture must be the person who is by qualification an architect (and similarly with other professions).
This suggests that the starting point ought to be that a company cannot carry on a profession for the purposes of corporation tax legislation. But there is a contrary argument. The view is sometimes taken that a business of supplying professional services may be equated with a profession. On this view it is proper to say that a person who carries on such a business carries on a profession even if that person does not personally provide the professional services.
Since references to carrying on a profession may be used either in the strictest sense, or in a looser sense to include a business of providing professional services, the first argument based on the nature of a profession is not conclusive.