An individual (or other non-corporate) recipient of a qualifying distribution made by a UK-resident company was, prior to 6 April 2016, entitled to a tax credit of one ninth of the amount of the distribution. All distributions were qualifying distributions other than, broadly, a bonus issue of redeemable shares (section 1136, Corporation Tax Act 2010).

The concept of a qualifying distribution was abolished from April 2016, in conjunction with the abolition of the tax credit from that date and section 1136 of CTA 2010 was repealed. For further discussion, see Practice note, Dividends in specie and distributions in specie: tax issues: Individual recipients: income tax treatment from 6 April 2016.