18 Deferred tax
The major deferred tax assets recognised by the Group and movements thereon are as follows:
| Non current asset depreciation £m |
Short-term timing differences £m |
Retirement benefit obligations £m |
Share- based payments £m |
Total £m |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At 1 January 2007 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 1.9 | 3.9 |
| Credit/(charge) to income | 0.5 | 1.6 | (0.1) | 0.1 | 2.1 |
| Credit/(charge) to equity | – | – | 0.3 | (0.6) | (0.3) |
| Effect of change in tax rate: | |||||
| Income statement | (0.1) | (0.1) | (0.1) | – | (0.3) |
| Equity | – | – | – | (0.1) | (0.1) |
| At 31 December 2007 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 5.3 |
| At 1 January 2008 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 5.3 |
| Credit/(charge) to income | 0.2 | (0.8) | (0.1) | – | (0.7) |
| Charge to equity | – | – | – | (0.9) | (0.9) |
| At 31 December 2008 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 3.7 |
Certain deferred tax assets and liabilities have been offset. The following is the analysis of the deferred tax balances (after offset) for financial reporting purposes:
| 2008 £m |
2007 £m |
|
|---|---|---|
| Deferred tax within trade and other receivables | 1.0 | 0.3 |
| Deferred tax within non current assets | 2.7 | 5.0 |
At 31 December 2008, the Group had unused tax losses of £0.6m (2007: £0.6m) available for offset against future profit. No deferred tax asset has been recognised in respect of such losses due to the unpredictability of future profit streams against which these losses may be utilised. Losses may be carried forward indefinitely.