The Finance Act 2009 repealed the Treasury consent rules for transactions taking place on or after 1 July 2009 and replaced them with a post-transaction reporting regime, see Practice note, International movement of capital: Treasury consent and reporting requirements.

Prior to 1 July 2009, UK companies wanting to carry out certain transactions involving their overseas subsidiaries were required to obtain prior consent (which could be either specific or general) from HM Treasury (section 765, Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988). Where specific consent was required, individual written applications had to be made to HM Treasury. The “Treasury General Consents 1988” set out those types of transactions for which HM Treasury would automatically grant consent and for which no written application was required. The requirement for HM Treasury consent was to prevent the loss of tax to the UK.