Withholding Tax

TAXES CONSOLIDATION ACT

 

Part 18

Payments in Respect of Professional Services by Certain Persons and Payments to Subcontractors in Certain Industries (ss. 520-531)

Chapter 1 Payments in respect of professional services by certain persons (ss. 520-529A)
520.

Interpretation (Chapter 1).

(1)In this Chapter –

“accountable person” has the meaning assigned to it by section 521;

“appropriate tax”, in relation to a relevant payment, means –
(a)where such payment does not include value-added tax, a sum representing income tax on the amount of that payment at the standard rate in force at the time of payment, and
(b)where such payment includes value-added tax, a sum representing income tax at the standard rate in force at the time of payment on the amount of that payment exclusive of the value-added tax;

“authorised insurer” has the same meaning as in section 470;

“basis period for a year of assessment”, in relation to a specified person, means –
(a)where a relevant payment is to be included in a computation of profits or gains of that person for the purposes of Case I or II of Schedule D, the period on the profits or gains of which income tax for that year is to be finally computed for the purposes of Case I or II of Schedule D, and –
(i)where 2 basis periods overlap, then, subject to subsection (3), the period common to both shall be deemed for the purposes of this Chapter to fall in the second basis period only,
(ii)where there is an interval between the end of the basis period for one year of assessment and the basis period for the next year of assessment, the interval shall be deemed to be part of the second basis period, and
(iii)the reference in subparagraph (i) to the overlapping of 2 periods shall be construed as including a reference to the coincidence of 2 periods or to the inclusion of one period in another, and the reference to the period common to both shall be construed accordingly,
and
(b)in any other case, the year of assessment;

“contract of insurance” means a contract between an authorised insurer and a subscriber in respect of such insurance as is referred to in the definition of “relevant contract” in section 470(1);

“electronic means” has the same meaning as in section 917EA(1);

“income tax month” means –
(a)in relation to a period prior to 6 December 2001, a month beginning on the 6th day of a month and ending on the 5th day of the next month,
(b)the period beginning on 6 December 2001 and ending on 31 December 2001, and
(c)thereafter, a calendar month;

“member”, in relation to a contract of insurance, means a person who is named in the relevant policy of insurance and who has been accepted for insurance by an authorised insurer;

“partnership trade or profession”, means a trade or profession carried on by two or more persons in partnership;

“payment notification”, has the meaning assigned to it by section 524(4);

“payment notification reference number”, has the meaning assigned to it by section 524(6);

“practitioner” has the same meaning as in section 469;

“precedent partner”, in relation to a partnership and a partnership trade or profession, has the same meaning as in section 1007;

“professional services” includes –
(a)services of a medical, dental, pharmaceutical, optical, aural or veterinary nature,
(b)services of an architectural, engineering, quantity surveying or surveying nature, and related services,
(c)services of accountancy, auditing or finance and services of financial, economic, marketing, advertising or other consultancies,
(d)services of a solicitor or barrister and other legal services, and
(e)geological services;
(f)[deleted];

“PSWT service” means such electronic system as is made available by the Revenue Commissioners to enable accountable persons to fulfil their obligations under section 524(4) and to facilitate electronic communication between the Revenue Commissioners, accountable persons, specified persons and others for the purpose of fulfilling those obligations and includes any enhancements or other changes made to that system and any replacement system;

“relevant medical expenses” means expenses incurred in respect of professional services provided by a practitioner, being expenses that are or may become the subject of a claim for their reimbursement or discharge in whole or in part under a contract of insurance but not including any such expenses that –
(a)under the terms of the contract of insurance may (except in the case of certain expenses that in the opinion of the authorised insurer concerned are unusually large) be the subject of a claim for their discharge or reimbursement only –
(i)after the expiry of a stated period of 12 months in which the expenses are incurred, and
(ii)to the extent that the aggregate of the expenses and any other expenses incurred in that period exceeds a stated amount,
or
(b)are incurred in respect of professional services provided by a practitioner outside the State;

“relevant payment” means a payment made by –
(a)an accountable person in respect of professional services whether or not such services are provided to the accountable person making the payment, or
(b)an authorised insurer to a practitioner in accordance with section 522, or otherwise, in the discharge of a claim in respect of relevant medical expenses under a contract of insurance,
but excludes –
(i)emoluments within the scope of Chapter 4 of Part 42 to which that Chapter applies,
(ii)relevant payments as defined for the purpose of Chapter 2 of this Part,
(iii)a payment by one accountable person to another in reimbursement of a relevant payment, and
(iv)a payment by one accountable person to –
(I)another accountable person being a person whose income is exempt from corporation tax or is disregarded for the purposes of the Tax Acts, or
(II)a body which has been granted an exemption from tax for the purposes of section 207;

“specified person”, in relation to a relevant payment, means the person to whom that payment is made but, in a case where the relevant payment (including a payment to which section 522 applies) is in relation to a professional service that is provided in the conduct of a partnership trade or profession, means each person who is a partner in the partnership;

“subscriber”, in relation to a contract of insurance, means a person (other than an authorised insurer) who is a party to the contract and in whose name the relevant policy of insurance is registered.

(2)For the purposes of this Chapter –

(a)any reference in this Chapter to the amount of a relevant payment shall be construed as a reference to the amount which would be the amount of that payment if no appropriate tax were to be deducted from that payment, and

(b)in relation to a specified person, appropriate tax referable to –

(i)an accounting period, or

(ii)a basis period for a year of assessment,

means the appropriate tax deducted from a relevant payment which is taken into account in computing the specified person’s profits or gains for that period and where there is more than one such relevant payment in that period the aggregate of the appropriate tax deducted from such payments.

(3)Where, by virtue of the application of subsections (2)(a) and (3B) of section 65, a specified person’s basis period for the year of assessment 2002, being a 12 month period ending in the period from 1 January 2002 to 5 April 2002, is also treated as the specified person’s basis period for the year of assessment 2001, that basis period shall be deemed for the purposes of this Chapter to be the basis period for the year of assessment 2001 only.

521.

Accountable persons.

(1)In this Chapter, “accountable person” means, subject to subsection (2), a person specified in Schedule 13.

(2)Where any of the persons specified in Schedule 13 is a body corporate, ‘accountable person’ includes –

(a)any subsidiary of that body corporate where such subsidiary is resident in the State and, for the purposes of this subsection, ‘subsidiary’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 7 of the Companies Act 2014, and

(b)a company, resident in the State, of which more than one accountable person are members if the accountable persons –

(i)control the composition of its board of directors,

(ii)hold more than half in nominal value of its equity share capital,

or

(iii)hold more than half in nominal value of its shares carrying voting rights (other than voting rights which arise only in specified circumstances).

(3)For the purposes of this Chapter, the Minister for Finance may by regulations extend or restrict the meaning of “accountable person” by adding or deleting one or more persons to or from, as the case may be, the list of persons specified in Schedule 13.

(4)Where regulations are proposed to be made under subsection (3), a draft of the regulations shall be laid before Dáil Éireann and the regulations shall not be made until a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by Dáil Éireann.

522.

Obligation on authorised insurers.

Subject to section 523(1), where under a contract of insurance a claim is made to an authorised insurer in respect of relevant medical expenses –

(a)the insurer shall, subject to section 529A, discharge the claim by making payment to the extent of the amount of the benefit, if any, due under the contract –

(i)to the practitioner who provided the professional services to the subscriber or member concerned to whom the relevant medical expenses relate, or

(ii)to the employer of the practitioner who provided the professional services to the subscriber or member concerned, where the professional services to which the claim relates were provided by the practitioner in the practitioner’s capacity as employee rather than on the practitioner’s own account,

and

(b)the subscriber or member, as the case may be, shall be acquitted and discharged of such amount as is represented by the payment as if the subscriber or member had made such payment.

523.

Deduction of tax from relevant payments.

(1)

(a)An accountable person making a relevant payment shall deduct from the amount of the payment the appropriate tax in relation to the payment.

(b)The specified person or, where section 529A applies, the partnership to whom the amount is payable shall allow such deduction on receipt of the residue of the payment.

(c)The accountable person making the deduction and, if the accountable person is an authorised insurer, any subscriber or member on whose behalf the accountable person is making the relevant payment shall be acquitted and discharged of such amount as is represented by the deduction, as if the amount had actually been paid.

(2)Where –

(a)in accordance with section 522 or 529A, a relevant payment has been made to a practitioner, an employer or, as the case may be, a partnership by an authorised insurer, and

(b)in accordance with subsection (1), the recipient has allowed a deduction of appropriate tax in respect of that payment and a subscriber or member has been acquitted and discharged of so much money as is represented by the deduction,

the recipient shall, if any amount in respect of the relevant medical expenses to which the relevant payment relates has been paid by the subscriber or member, pay to the subscriber or member, as the case may be, an amount equal to the amount by which the aggregate of the amount paid by the subscriber or member and the amount of the relevant payment exceeds the relevant medical expenses.

(3)

(a)The Minister for Finance may make such regulations as that Minister considers necessary or expedient for the purpose of giving full effect to this Chapter in so far as it relates to authorised insurers and the making of payments under contracts of insurance in respect of relevant medical expenses, and, in particular but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, regulations under this subsection may –

(i)specify the circumstances and the manner in which a payment (other than a relevant payment) may be made or claimed in respect of relevant medical expenses, and

(ii)provide for the indemnification of an individual against claims in respect of relevant medical expenses, or any other claims arising out of acts done or omitted to be done by the individual pursuant to this Chapter or regulations made under this subsection in so far as this Chapter relates or those regulations relate to authorised insurers and the making of payments under contracts of insurance in respect of relevant medical expenses.

(b)Every regulation made under this subsection shall be laid before Dáil Éireann as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by Dáil Éireann within the next 21 days on which Dáil Éireann has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

(4)The provisions of the Tax Acts relating to the computation of profits or gains shall not be affected by the deduction of appropriate tax from relevant payments in accordance with subsection (1), and accordingly the amount of such relevant payments shall be taken into account in computing the profits or gains of the specified person for tax purposes.

524.

Identification of specified persons and submission of payment notifications.

(1)Subject to subsection (2), the specified person shall furnish to the accountable person concerned –

(a)in the case of a specified person resident in the State or a person having a permanent establishment or fixed base in the State, details of –

(i)the specified person’s income tax or corporation tax number, as may be appropriate, and

(ii)if the relevant payment includes an amount in respect of value-added tax, the specified person’s value-added tax registration number,

and

(b)in the case of a specified person other than a person mentioned in paragraph (a), details of –

(i)the specified person’s country of residence,

(ii)the specified person’s tax reference in that country, and

(iii)the specified person’s address and contact details.

(2)

(a)Where a relevant payment (including a payment to which section 522 applies) is made in accordance with section 529A(1), the precedent partner shall furnish the tax number of the partnership to the accountable person.

(b)For the purposes of paragraph (a), ‘tax number’ in relation to a partnership means –

(i)the registration number allocated by the Revenue Commissioners in relation to the operation by the partnership of value-added tax, or any other tax, or the reference number stated on any return, form or notice issued by the Revenue Commissioners in relation to the partnership, or

(ii)where appropriate, the tax reference of the partnership in another country.

(3)For the purposes of this section, an accountable person may require a specified person or, as the case may be, a precedent partner to provide evidence from the Revenue Commissioners that –

(a)the income tax or corporation tax number furnished by the specified person in accordance with subsection (1)(a)(i) relates to that specified person, or

(b)the tax number of the partnership furnished by the precedent partner in accordance with subsection (2)(a) relates to that partnership.

(4)Where the specified person has complied with subsection (1) or, as the case may be, the precedent partner has complied with subsection (2), the accountable person, on making a relevant payment, shall submit to the Revenue Commissioners a notification using the PSWT service (in this Chapter referred to as a ‘payment notification’), specifying –

(a)the name and address of the specified person or, as the case may be, of the partnership,

(b)the specified person’s tax reference as furnished in accordance with paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (1) or, as the case may be, the partnership’s tax number as furnished in accordance with subsection (2),

(c)the amount of the relevant payment,

(d)the amount of the appropriate tax deducted from that payment,

(e)the date on which the payment was made, and

(f)such other information as may be required by the Revenue Commissioners for the purposes of this section.

(5)Where, before the date on which a return in respect of a relevant payment is required to be made in accordance with section 525(7), an accountable person is aware or becomes aware that a payment notification submitted in respect of the relevant payment contains an error or omission or was not required by this Chapter, the person shall, before the date on which the return is required to be made –

(a)cancel the payment notification and, where required by this Chapter, submit a further payment notification, or

(b)amend the payment notification.

(6)Upon submission of a payment notification, an accountable person shall be provided by the PSWT service with a reference number (in this Chapter referred to as a ‘payment notification reference number’), which shall be deemed to be an acknowledgement issued by the Revenue Commissioners.

(7)Where, having made a relevant payment, an accountable person has complied with subsection (4) and, where appropriate, subsection (5), the accountable person shall –

(a)as soon as practicable, provide to the specified person or, as the case may be, the precedent partner, by written or electronic means, details of –

(i)the name and tax reference number of the accountable person,

(ii)the gross amount of the relevant payment, including the tax deducted,

(iii)the amount of tax deducted from the relevant payment, and

(iv)the date of the relevant payment, and

(b)where requested by the specified person or, as the case may be, the precedent partner, provide to that person, by written or electronic means, the payment notification reference number in respect of the relevant payment.

(8)The Revenue Commissioners may, by electronic or other means, make available to a specified person or precedent partner details of the information contained in a payment notification relating to the specified person or partnership, as the case may be.

525.

Returns and collection of appropriate tax.

(1)Within 23 days from the end of every income tax month, an accountable person shall remit to the Collector-General all amounts of appropriate tax which the accountable person is liable under this Chapter to deduct from relevant payments made by the accountable person during that income tax month.

(2)Each remittance under subsection (1) shall be accompanied by a return containing the particulars required by the return.

(3)A return shall be required to be made by an accountable person for an income tax month notwithstanding that no relevant payments were made by the accountable person in that income tax month.

(4)Every return shall be in a form prescribed by the Revenue Commissioners and shall include a declaration to the effect that the return is correct and complete.

(4A)A return shall be made by electronic means and the relevant provisions of Chapter 6 of Part 38 shall apply.

(5)The Collector-General shall give the accountable person a receipt for the total amount so remitted.

(6)The provisions of Chapter 2 relating to the assessment, collection and recovery of tax deductible under that Chapter shall apply to the assessment, collection and recovery of appropriate tax.

(7)On or before 23 February following each tax year, an accountable person shall submit to the Collector-General, in such form as the Revenue Commissioners may approve or prescribe, a return containing details of –

(a)all amounts of appropriate tax which the accountable person was liable to deduct from relevant payments made during that year,

(b)all amounts of appropriate tax remitted by the accountable person in accordance with subsection (1) during that year, and

(c)any amounts of appropriate tax owed by the accountable person in respect of relevant payments made during that year.

(8)On or before the 23rd day of the month following the coming into operation of section 13 of the Finance Act 2020, an accountable person shall submit to the Collector-General in such form as the Revenue Commissioners may approve or prescribe, a return containing, in relation to the period from 1 January 2021 to the date of that coming into operation, details of –

(a)the amount of relevant payments made by the accountable person to each specified person or, where section 529A applies, each partnership to which relevant payments were made by the accountable person during that period,

(b)the amount of appropriate tax which the accountable person was liable to deduct from relevant payments to each specified person or, where section 529A applies, each partnership to which relevant payments were made by the accountable person during that period,

(c)the amount of appropriate tax remitted by the accountable person in accordance with subsection (1) during that period, and

(d)such other particulars as may be required by the return.

526.

Credit for appropriate tax borne.

(1)Where in relation to an accounting period a specified person is within the charge to corporation tax and has borne appropriate tax referable to that accounting period, the specified person may, subject to section 529, claim to have the amount of appropriate tax specified in subsection (4) set against corporation tax chargeable for that accounting period and, where such appropriate tax exceeds such corporation tax, to have the excess refunded to the specified person.

(2)Where in relation to a year of assessment a specified person is within the charge to income tax and has borne appropriate tax referable to the basis period for that year of assessment, the specified person may, subject to section 529, claim to have the amount of appropriate tax specified in subsection (4) set against the income tax chargeable for the year of assessment and, where such appropriate tax exceeds such income tax, to have the excess refunded to the specified person.

(3)The specified person shall, where requested by the Revenue Commissioners, furnish the following in respect of each amount of appropriate tax included in a claim under subsection (1) or (2) –

(a)the payment notification reference number in respect of the payment notification made in accordance with section 524(4), and

(b)in the case of a specified person who is a partner in relation to a partnership trade or profession, the documentation referred to in section 529A(3).

(4)The amount of the appropriate tax to be set against corporation tax for an accounting period or against income tax for a year of assessment in accordance with subsection (1) or (2) shall be the total of the appropriate tax referable to the accounting period or to the basis period for the year of assessment, as the case may be, which is included in relation to the specified person in the payment notifications or, as the case may be, the documentation referred to in subsection (3) and not repaid under this Chapter.

(5)References in this section to corporation tax chargeable and to income tax chargeable shall be construed in accordance with the definition of ‘amount of tax chargeable’ in section 959A.

527.

Interim refunds of appropriate tax.

(1)A specified person may make a claim for an interim refund of the whole or part of the appropriate tax referable to an accounting period or to a basis period for a year of assessment, as the case may be (in this section referred to as “the first-mentioned period”), and the inspector shall, if he or she is satisfied that the specified person making the claim has complied with the requirements of subsection (2), make an offset or interim refund as is specified in subsection (3) and, subject to those requirements as modified by subsection (4)(a), make an offset or interim refund as is specified in that subsection.

(2)The requirements of this subsection are –

(a)that the profits or gains for the accounting period or for the basis period for the year of assessment, as the case may be, immediately preceding the first-mentioned period have been finally determined for tax purposes,

(b)that the amount of tax which was payable for that accounting period or year of assessment corresponding to that basis period has been paid, and

(c)that the specified person shall, in respect of each relevant payment included in the claim, furnish to the inspector the payment notification reference number in respect of the payment notification made in accordance with section 524(4) or, in the case of a specified person who is a partner in relation to a partnership trade or profession, the documentation referred to in section 529A(3).

(3)

(a)The amount of the tax available for offset or interim refund shall be the excess of the total of the appropriate tax not already repaid under the provisions of this section, which is included in relation to the specified person in the payment notifications or, as the case may be, the documentation referred to in subsection (2)(c), over an amount equivalent to the amount of tax referred to in subsection (2)(b).

(b)Where an excess arises in accordance with paragraph (a), the excess shall be offset under section 960H to the extent that the specified person has a liability (within the meaning of that section) and any balance of the excess shall, subject to the Acts, be refunded to the specified person.

(3A)[deleted]

(4)

(a)Where the first-mentioned period is the period in which the trade or profession of the specified person has been set up and commenced, paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (2) shall not apply and the inspector shall, in accordance with this subsection, make an offset or interim refund to the specified person in respect of appropriate tax deducted from relevant payments taken, or to be taken, into account in computing the profits or gains of the trade or profession.

(b)For the purposes of determining the amount of the offset or interim refund, the inspector shall determine –

(i)an amount equal to the amount of tax at the standard rate on an amount determined by the formula –

 

where –

Ais the estimated total amount of the relevant payments to be taken into account as income in computing for tax purposes the profits or gains of the first-mentioned period,

Bis the estimated total sum of all amounts to be so taken into account as income in computing those profits or gains,

Cis the estimated number of months or fractions of months comprised in the period in respect of which the claim to the refund is made,

Eis the estimated amount to be laid out or expended wholly and exclusively by the specified person in the first-mentioned period for the purposes of the trade or profession, and

Pis the estimated number of months or fractions of months comprised in the first-mentioned period,

and the inspector shall make the estimates referred to in this formula to the best of his or her knowledge and belief and in accordance with the information available to him or her, and

(ii)the amount of appropriate tax deducted from relevant payments in relation to the specified person in respect of which payment notifications or, as the case may be, the documentation have been furnished in accordance with subsection (2)(c) after deducting from that amount any amount of such tax already offset or refunded in relation to the period for which the claim to a refund is made.

(c)The inspector shall offset or refund an amount of appropriate tax equal to the lesser of the amounts determined at subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of paragraph (b).

(5)Where the specified person claims and proves the presence of particular hardship, the Revenue Commissioners may waive, in whole or in part, one or more than one of the conditions for the making of an offset or refund specified in this section and, where they so waive such a condition or conditions, they shall determine, having regard to all the circumstances and taking into account the objects and intentions of subsections (1) to (4), an amount of an offset or refund or a further offset or refund which they consider to be just and reasonable and they shall make such offset or refund or, as the case may be, such further offset or refund accordingly.

(6)For the purposes of this section, the income of a specified person for an accounting period or a basis period for a year of assessment shall be the total of all amounts received or receivable by the specified person which are taken into account in computing the profits or gains of the specified person’s trade or profession for that period.

528.

Apportionment of credits or interim refunds of appropriate tax.

Where the payment notification referred to in either section 526(3) or 527(2)(c) relates to 2 or more specified persons, any necessary apportionment shall be made for the purposes of giving effect to sections 526 and 527.

529.

Limitation on credits or interim refunds of appropriate tax.

No amount of appropriate tax shall be set off or refunded more than once under this Chapter, and any amount of appropriate tax refunded in accordance with section 527 shall not be available for set-off under section 526.

529A.

Partnerships.

(1)Subject to the provisions of this section, where a professional service is provided in the conduct of a partnership trade or profession then, for the purposes of this Chapter, an accountable person may make a relevant payment (including a payment to which section 522 applies) in relation to that service in the name of the partnership.

(2)Where a relevant payment (including a payment to which section 522 applies) is in relation to a professional service that is provided in the conduct of a partnership trade or profession, then for the purposes of sections 520(2), 526 and 527 –

(a)the relevant payment shall be deemed to have been made to each person who is a partner in the partnership in the proportion in which profits or gains of the partnership trade or profession for the chargeable period involved are to be apportioned amongst the partners, and

(b)appropriate tax deducted from the relevant payment shall be apportioned solely between the partners and in the same proportion referred to in paragraph (a).

(3)Where an apportionment as referred to in subsection (2) applies to a relevant payment and to the appropriate tax deducted from that payment, the precedent partner shall, for the purposes of sections 526 and 527, provide details of the apportionment that applies to the payment and the appropriate tax deducted, and the basis for that apportionment, in a statement issued to each partner in the partnership, which shall include the details provided to the precedent partner by the accountable person in accordance with section 524(7).

(4)The statement referred to in subsection (3) may be issued in writing or by electronic means (within the meaning of section 917EA) and shall be in such form as may be approved by the Revenue Commissioners for that purpose.

Chapter 1A

Payments in respect of non-resident artistes by companies qualifying for relief for investment in films (ss. 529B-529M)

529B.

Interpretation (Chapter 1A)

(1)In this Chapter-

“artiste” means an individual who provides artistic services;

“artistic services” means the services of an individual, when provided within the State, in giving a performance in audio-visual works of any kind, including films and television content, which is or may be made available to the public or any section of the public;

“appropriate tax” in relation to a relevant payment, means-
(a)where such payment does not include value-added tax, a sum representing income tax on the amount of that payment at the standard rate in force at the time of payment, and
(b)where such payment includes value-added tax, a sum representing income tax at the standard rate in force at the time of payment on the amount of that payment exclusive of the value-added tax;

“certificate of deduction” means a certificate issued in accordance with section 529D(2);

“chargeable period” means the period specified in a notice in writing given by the Revenue Commissioners to a person, being a period of one or more income tax months, in respect of which the person is required under section 529E to make a return to the Collector-General, or where no such notice issued, a calendar month;

“due date” in relation to a chargeable period, means the day that is 23 days after the end of that period;

“EEA Agreement” means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2 May 1992, as adjusted by all subsequent amendments to that Agreement;

“EEA State” means a state which is a contracting party to the EEA Agreement;

“electronic means” has the meaning assigned to it in section 917EA(1);

“income tax month” means a calendar month;

“non-resident” means an individual who is neither resident nor ordinarily resident in the State, in another Member State or in another EEA state;

“qualifying company” has the meaning assigned to it in section 481;

“relevant payment” means any payment of whatever nature madewhether directly or indirectly, by a qualifying company in a chargeablewhether directly or indirectly, by a qualifying company in a chargeable period in respect of artistic services provided by an artiste who is non-resident, whether or not the artistic services are provided directly or indirectly to the qualifying company including any payments relating to the exploitation of or compensation for any rights held by or on behalf of or in respect of the artiste who is non-resident, but excludes emoluments to which Chapter 4 of Part 42 applies;

“Revenue officer” means an officer of the Revenue Commissioners;

“specified person” means a person to whom a relevant payment is due.

(2)For the purposes of this Chapter any reference to the amount of a relevant payment shall be construed as a reference to the amount which would be the amount of that payment as if no appropriate tax were required to be deducted from that payment.

529C.

Deduction of tax from relevant payments

(1)

(a)A qualifying company making a relevant payment shall deduct from the amount of the payment the appropriate tax in relation to the payment.

(b)The specified person shall allow such deduction on the receipt of the residue of the payment.

(c)The qualifying company shall be acquitted and discharged of such amount as is represented by the deduction, as if that amount had actually been paid to the specified person.

(2)

(a)A specified person shall be entitled to have the amount of the relevant payment reduced by the amount of expenditure, which was not reimbursed or is not reimbursable, that was incurred in the provision of artistic services to a qualifying company.

(b)The amount of expenditure referred to in paragraph (a) shall be computed as if the artistic services provided to the qualifying company was a separate trade and the expenditure was incurred for the purposes of that trade.

(c)A specified person may make a claim to the Revenue Commissioners in respect of expenditure defrayed in accordance with paragraph (b).

(d)Where a Revenue officer is satisfied that the amount of expenditure claimed under paragraph (c) would not have been disallowed under section 81 if the specified person had provided the services directly to the qualifying company by carrying on a trade or profession chargeable to tax under Case I or Case II, then a Revenue officer shall issue a notification to the qualifying company specifying the amount of expenditure that shall be allowed as a deduction under paragraph (a).

(e)On receipt of a notification issued under paragraph (d), the qualifying company shall deduct the appropriate tax from the amount of the relevant payment after allowing the deduction in the notification issued under paragraph (d).

(3)A qualifying company which makes a relevant payment to a specified person in circumstances other than those referred to in subsection (1) shall –

(a)be liable to pay tax to the Revenue Commissioners at the standard rate on the amount of the relevant payment, and

(b)without prejudice to any other penalty to which the qualifying company may be liable and without prejudice to section 1078, be liable to a penalty of €5,000 or the amount of the tax payable under paragraph (a), whichever is the lesser.

529D.

Identification of, and issue of documents to, specified persons

(1)A specified person shall furnish to a qualifying company details of the specified person’s country of residence, address and tax reference in the country of residence.

(2)Where the specified person has complied with subsection (1) the qualifying company, on making a relevant payment, shall give to such person a certificate of deduction in a form prescribed by the Revenue Commissioners with particulars of-

(a)the name and address of the specified person,

(b)the specified person’s tax reference as furnished in accordance with subsection (1),

(c)the amount of the relevant payment,

(d)the amount of the appropriate tax deducted from that payment, and

(e)the date on which the payment is made.

529E.

Returns by qualifying company

(1)On or before the due date relating to a chargeable period, a qualifying company shall make a return to the Collector-General of all relevant payments made by the qualifying company during that chargeable period and shall specify on that return the amount of the qualifying company’s tax liability under this Chapter.

(2)A return required under this section shall be made by electronic means and the relevant provisions of Chapter 6 of Part 38 shall apply.

(3)Where a qualifying company fails to submit the return due under subsection (1), the qualifying company shall, without prejudice to any other penalty to which the qualifying company may be liable and without prejudice to section 1078, be liable to a penalty of €5,000 or the amount of the tax due under subsection (2), whichever is the lesser.

(4)The Revenue Commissioners shall make regulations for the purposes of this section and such regulations may provide for –

(a)the manner by which qualifying companies shall communicate electronically with the Revenue Commissioners,

(b)the particulars to be included in the return required under this section, and

(c)any other matters relating to returns under this section by a qualifying company.

529F.

Payment of tax by qualifying company

On or before the due date relating to a chargeable period, a qualifying company shall remit to the Collector-General all amounts of appropriate tax which the qualifying company is liable under this Chapter to deduct from relevant payments made by the qualifying company during that chargeable period.

529G.

Assessment by Revenue officer

(1)Where a Revenue officer has reason to believe that there is an amount of appropriate tax in relation to a relevant payment that ought to have been but has not been included in a return under section 529E(1), or where the Revenue officer is dissatisfied with any such return, the Revenue officer may make an assessment on the qualifying company to the best of the officer’s judgement of the amount of the appropriate tax which in the opinion of the officer is due and payable by the qualifying company for the chargeable period or periods.

(2)Without prejudice to section 529E but subject to subsection (4), the amount of tax specified in an assessment under subsection (1) shall be due and payable to the Revenue Commissioners from the qualifying company so assessed.

(3)

(a)A Revenue officer may, where the officer considers this necessary, amend an assessment of tax made under subsection (1), and where, in accordance with this section, the Revenue officer makes or amends an assessment, the officer shall give notice to the qualifying company assessed showing the total amount of tax due and payable in accordance with the assessment.

(b)Without prejudice to anything in this section, the provisions of Chapter 5 of Part 41A, including those relating to time limits shall, with any necessary modifications, apply to the making and amending of an assessment under this section.

(c)The Revenue officer may issue the notice of assessment or of amended assessment by electronic means.

(4)

(a)A qualifying company aggrieved by an assessment or an amended assessment, as the case may be, made on that company under this section may appeal the assessment or the amended assessment to the Appeal Commissioners, in accordance with section 949I, within the period of 30 days after the date of the notice of assessment.

(b)A qualifying company to whom notice is given under subsection (3), shall not be entitled to appeal to the Appeal Commissioners-

(i)in the case of a qualifying company who has made a return under section 529E, until that qualifying company has paid the tax due and payable on the basis of the qualifying company’s return together with the related interest due under section 529H, and

(ii)in any other case, until the qualifying company has made a return under section 529E for the return period concerned and has paid the tax due and payable on the basis of that return together with the related interest due under section 529H.

(c)[deleted]

529H.

Interest on late payment of appropriate tax

(1)Where an amount of tax which a qualifying company is liable to pay under this Chapter to the Collector-General is not paid by the due date concerned, simple interest on the amount outstanding shall be paid by the qualifying company to the Collector-General and shall be calculated from the due date concerned until payment, for any day or part of a day during which the amount remains unpaid at the rate specified in section 1080.

(2)Subsections (3) to (5) of section 1080 shall apply in relation to interest payable under subsection (1) as they apply in relation to interest payable under that section.

529I.

Repayment of appropriate tax

(1)Notwithstanding anything in the Tax Acts –

(a)subject to paragraph (d), no repayment of appropriate tax in respect of any relevant payment shall be made to any specified person receiving or entitled to the relevant payment,

(b)the amount of any relevant payment shall be deemed to be income of the specified person and chargeable to income tax under Case IV of Schedule D and under no other Case or Schedule, and shall be taken into account in computing the total income of the person entitled to that amount but in relation to such a person –

(i)except for the purposes of a claim to repayment under paragraph (d), the specified amount within the meaning of section 188(2) shall, as respects the year of assessment for which the person is to be charged to income tax in respect of the relevant payment, be increased by that amount, and

(ii)where the taxable income of that person includes a relevant payment then the part of the taxable income, equal to that relevant payment, shall be chargeable to tax at the rate at which tax was deducted from the relevant payment,

(c)section 59 shall apply as if a reference to appropriate tax deductible by virtue of this Chapter were contained in paragraph (a) of that section,

(d)

(i)a specified person shall be entitled in computing the income chargeable under Case IV, in accordance with paragraph (b), to a deduction in respect of expenditure, which was not reimbursed or is not reimbursable, incurred in the provision of artistic services to a qualifying company,

(ii)the amount of expenditure referred to in subparagraph (i) shall be computed as if the artistic services provided to the qualifying company was a separate trade or profession and the expenditure was incurred for the purposes of that trade or profession,

(iii)a specified person may make a claim for repayment of appropriate tax to the Revenue Commissioners in respect of expenditure incurred in accordance with subparagraph (ii),

(iv)on receipt of a claim under subparagraph (iii) a Revenue officer shall make a determination on an amount that is equal to the expenditure that would not have been disallowed as a deduction under section 81 if the specified person had provided the services directly to the qualifying company by carrying on a trade or profession chargeable to tax under Case I or Case II,

(v)a repayment of the appropriate tax charged on the amount determined by a Revenue officer under subparagraph (iv) shall be made to the specified person,

(vi)following a determination under subparagraph (iv) and the application of subparagraph (v) the Revenue Commissioners shall notify the specified person of the repayment, if any, that is due,

(vii)a claim may not be made under this section where the relevant payment has been reduced, in respect of expenditure incurred, under section 529C(2).

(2)A specified person aggrieved by a determination of a Revenue officer made under subsection (1)(d)(iv) in respect of that person may appeal the determination to the Appeal Commissioners, in accordance with section 949I, within the period of 30 days after the date of that determination.

(3)[deleted]

(4)The Revenue Commissioners shall make regulations for the purposes of this section and such regulations may provide for –

(a)the manner by which specified persons shall communicate with the Revenue Commissioners,

(b)the particulars to be included in a claim for a repayment under this section,

(c)the transmission of information in connection with appeals,

(d)any other matters related to repayments under this section.

529J.

Obligation on specified person

Every specified person shall furnish to a qualifying company, on request, all such information or particulars as are required by the qualifying company to enable the qualifying company to comply with this Chapter.

529K.

Record keeping and inspection of records

(1)Without prejudice to any other provision of the Tax Acts each qualifying company shall keep and maintain a record of all relevant payments made and the record shall state, in relation to each such payment, the name, address and tax reference of the specified person or the artiste, as appropriate, the date of the payment, the amount of the payment and the amount of appropriate tax deducted from the payment.

(2)The obligations contained in subsections (3) and (4) of section 886 to keep and retain records and linking documents apply to all records, documents and other data created or maintained manually or by any electronic means for the purposes of this Chapter.

(3)

(a)Without prejudice to other provisions of the Tax Acts, any person, or any employee of a person, who has made or received a relevant payment, shall produce to a Revenue officer for inspection all documents and records relating to the relevant payment as are in the power, possession or procurement of such person or employee, as the case may be, which have been requested by the Revenue officer.

(b)For the purposes of subsection (1), any Revenue officer who exercises powers or performs duties, as the case may be, under this section shall be authorised in writing by the Revenue Commissioners to exercise those powers or perform those duties.

(c)An authorised officer when exercising powers or performing duties under this section shall, on request, produce evidence of the officer’s authorisation.

529L.

Civil penalties

Chapter 3A of Part 47 applies, with any necessary modification, to a penalty arising under section 529C(3) or 529E(3).

529M.

Miscellaneous

(1)Regulations made under this Chapter shall be laid before Dáil Éireann as soon as may be after they are made and, if a resolution annulling those regulations is passed by Dáil Éireann within the next 21 days on which Dáil Éireann has sat after the regulations are laid before it, the regulations shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under them.

(2)

(a)Anything required to be done by a qualifying company under this Chapter or under regulations made under this Chapter may be done by another person acting under the authority of the qualifying company.

(b)Where anything is done by such other person under the authority of a qualifying company, this Chapter shall apply as if it had been done by the qualifying company.

(c)Anything purporting to have been done by or on behalf of a qualifying company shall for the purposes of this Chapter be deemed to have been done by the qualifying company or under the qualifying company’s authority, as the case may be, unless the contrary is proved.

(3)Anything to be done by or under this Chapter by the Revenue Commissioners, other than the making of regulations, may be done by any Revenue officer or may, if appropriate, be done through such electronic systems as the Revenue Commissioners may put in place for the time being for any such purpose.

 

 

Chapter 2

Payments to subcontractors in certain industries (ss. 530-531)

530.

Interpretation (Chapter 2).

(1)In this Chapter –

“certificate of authorisation” means a certificate issued under section 531(11);

“certificates of deduction” has the meaning assigned to it by section 531(6)(f);

“certified subcontractor”, in relation to a principal, means a subcontractor –
(a)in respect of whom the principal holds, at the time of making a payment under a relevant contract to the subcontractor, a relevant payments card for the year in which the payment is made, and
(b)in respect of whom the principal has not received a notice under paragraph (a) of subsection (13) of section 531;

“chargeable period” has the same meaning as in section 321(2);

“construction operations” means operations of any of the following descriptions –
(a)the construction, alteration, repair, extension, demolition or dismantling of buildings or structures,
(b)the construction, alteration, repair, extension or demolition of any works forming, or to form, part of the land, including walls, roadworks, power lines, telecommunication apparatus, aircraft runways, docks and harbours, railways, inland waterways, pipelines, reservoirs, water mains, wells, sewers, industrial plant and installations for purposes of land drainage,
(c)the installation, alteration or repair in any building or structure of systems of heating, lighting, air-conditioning, soundproofing, ventilation, power supply, drainage, sanitation, water supply, or burglar or fire protection,
(ca)the installation, alteration or repair in or on any building or structure of systems of telecommunications,
(d)the external cleaning of buildings (other than cleaning of any part of a building in the course of normal maintenance) or the internal cleaning of buildings and structures, in so far as carried out in the course of their construction, alteration, extension, repair or restoration,
(e)operations which form an integral part of, or are preparatory to, or are for rendering complete such operations as are described in paragraphs (a) to (d), including site clearance, earth-moving, excavation, tunnelling and boring, laying of foundations, erection of scaffolding, site restoration, landscaping and the provision of roadways and other access works,
(f)operations which form an integral part of, or are preparatory to, or are for rendering complete, the drilling for or extraction of minerals, oil, natural gas or the exploration for, or exploitation of, natural resources,
(g)the haulage for hire of materials, machinery or plant for use, whether used or not, in any of the construction operations referred to in paragraphs (a) to (f);

“the contractor” has the meaning assigned to it by the definition of “relevant contract”;

“deducted tax” has the meaning given to it in section 530P;

“deduction authorisation” has the meaning given to it in section 530D;

“deduction summary” in relation to a return period, means a statement (adjusted as appropriate in accordance with regulations made under this Chapter) which the Revenue Commissioners cause to be issued to a registered principal setting out, in summary form –
(a)details in respect of each relevant payment notified by that principal under section 530C which is, in accordance with regulations made under this Chapter, the subject of a valid deduction authorisation at the time of issue of the deduction summary, and
(b)the aggregate amount of tax that is, based on the details referred to in paragraph (a), payable by the principal in respect of the return period,
and includes a statement to the effect that no such relevant payments were notified, where that is the case;

“designated area” has the meaning assigned to it by section 13(1);

“director” means –
(a)in relation to a body corporate the affairs of which are managed by a board of directors or similar body, a member of that board or body,
(b)in relation to a body corporate the affairs of which are managed by a single director or similar person, that director or person,
(c)in relation to a body corporate the affairs of which are managed by the members themselves, a member of the body corporate,
and includes any person who is or has been a director;

“due date” in relation to a return period, means –
(a)the day that is 14 days after the end of that return period, or
(b)the day that is 23 days after the end of that return period, in a case where the return for that period is made by electronic means in accordance with Chapter 6 of Part 38 and the remittance of the amount of tax that the person was liable to remit to the Collector-General under this Chapter in respect of that period is made by such electronic means as are required by the Revenue Commissioners, if the return and the remittance concerned are made by that day;

“electronic means” has the same meaning as in section 917EA(1);

“employee”, in relation to a body corporate, includes any person taking part in the management of the affairs of the body corporate who is not a director, and includes a person who is to be or has been an employee;

“forestry operations” means operations of any of the following descriptions –
(a)the thinning, lopping or felling of trees in woods, forests or other plantations,
(b)with effect from the 6th day of October, 1997, the planting of trees in woods, forests or other plantations,
(c)with effect from the 6th day of October, 1997, the maintenance of woods, forests and plantations and the preparation of land, including woods or forests which have been harvested, for planting,
(d)the haulage or removal of thinned, lopped or felled trees,
(e)the processing (including cutting or preserving) of wood from thinned, lopped or felled trees in sawmills or other like premises,
(f)the haulage for hire of materials, machinery or plant for use, whether used or not, in any of the operations referred to in paragraphs (a) to (e);

“income tax month” means –
(a)in relation to a period prior to 6 December 2001, a month beginning on the 6th day of a month and ending on the 5th day of the next month,
(b)the period beginning on 6 December 2001 and ending on 31 December 2001, and
(c)thereafter, a calendar month;

“meat processing operations” means operations of any of the following descriptions –
(a)the slaughter of cattle, sheep, pigs, domestic fowl, turkeys, guinea-fowl, ducks or geese,
(b)the catching of domestic fowl, turkeys, guinea-fowl, ducks or geese,
(c)the division (including cutting or boning), sorting, packaging (including vacuum packaging), rewrapping or branding of, or the application of any other similar process to, the carcasses or any Part of the carcasses (including meat) of slaughtered cattle, sheep, pigs, domestic fowl, turkeys, guinea-fowl, ducks or geese,
(d)the application of methods of preservation (including cold storage) to the carcasses or any Part of the carcasses (including meat) of slaughtered cattle, sheep, pigs, domestic fowl, turkeys, guinea-fowl, ducks or geese,
(e)the loading or unloading of the carcasses or Part of the carcasses (including meat) of slaughtered cattle, sheep, pigs, domestic fowl, turkeys, guinea-fowl, ducks or geese at any establishment where any of the operations referred to in paragraphs (a), (c) and (d) are carried on,
(f)the haulage of the carcasses or any Part of the carcasses (including meat) of slaughtered cattle, sheep, pigs, domestic fowl, turkeys, guinea-fowl, ducks or geese from any establishment where any of the operations referred to in paragraphs (a), (c) and (d) are carried on,
(fa)the rendering of the carcasses or any part of the carcasses of slaughtered cattle, sheep, pigs, domestic fowl, turkeys, guinea-fowl, ducks or geese,
(g)the cleaning down of any establishment where any of the operations referred to in paragraphs (a), (c) and (d) are carried on,
(h)the grading, sexing and transport of day-old chicks of domestic fowl, turkeys, guinea-fowl, ducks or geese,
(i)the haulage for hire of cattle, sheep, pigs, domestic fowl, turkeys, guinea-fowl, ducks or geese or of any of the materials, machinery or plant for use, whether used or not, in any of the operations referred to in paragraphs (a) to (h);

“NAMA” and “NAMA group entity” have the same meanings, respectively, as they have in the National Asset Management Agency Act 2009;

“the principal” has the meaning assigned to it by the definition of “relevant contract”;

“proprietary director”, means a director of a company who is either the beneficial owner of, or able, either directly or through the medium of other companies or by any other indirect means, to control, more than 15 per cent of the ordinary share capital of the company;

“proprietary employee” means an employee who is either the beneficial owner of, or able, either directly or through the medium of other companies or by any other indirect means, to control, more than 15 per cent of the ordinary share capital of the company;

“qualifying period” means the period of 3 years, or such shorter period as the inspector may allow, ending on 31 December in the year preceding the year of assessment which is the first year of assessment of the period, in respect of which a certificate of authorisation is sought together with the period, if any, from 1 January in the said first year of assessment to the date on which the application for the said certificate is received by the Revenue Commissioners;

“registered principal” means a principal included in a register of principals kept and maintained by the Revenue Commissioners for the purposes of this Chapter;

“relevant contract” means a contract (not being a contract of employment, or a contract between NAMA and a NAMA group entity or a contract between a NAMA group entity and another NAMA group entity) whereby a person (in this Chapter referred to as “the contractor”) is liable to another person (in this Chapter referred to as “the principal”) –
(a)to carry out relevant operations,
(b)to be answerable for the carrying out of such operations by others, whether under a contract with the contractor or under other arrangements made or to be made by the contractor, or
(c)to furnish the contractor’s own labour or the labour of others in the carrying out of relevant operations or to arrange for the labour of others to be furnished for the carrying out of such operations,
but, as respects relevant contracts entered into on or after the 15th day of May, 1996, a separate relevant contract shall be deemed to exist between the principal and each individual member of a gang or group of persons, including persons in partnership, where relevant operations are performed collectively by the gang or group, notwithstanding that any payment or part of a payment in respect of such relevant operations is made by the principal to one or more of the gang or group or to some other person;

“relevant operations” means construction operations, forestry operations or meat processing operations, as the case may be;

“relevant payment” means a payment made by a principal to whom section 530A applies in respect of a relevant contract;

“relevant payments card” has the meaning assigned to it by section 531(12);

“relevant tax deduction card” has the meaning assigned to it by section 531(6)(c)(ii);

“return period”, in relation to the principal concerned, means the period specified in a notice in writing given by the Revenue Commissioners to that principal, being a period of one or more income tax months, in respect of which the principal is required under section 531(3A) to make a return to the Collector-General, or where no such period is specified, an income tax month;

“Revenue officer” means any officer of the Revenue Commissioners;

“subcontractor” means the contractor under a relevant contract where the principal under that contract is a person to whom section 530A applies;

“technology systems failure” means circumstances in which the electronic system put in place by the Revenue Commissioners for the efficient operation of this Chapter is not functioning or is not functioning properly at any particular time such that a person is unable to comply with an obligation under this Chapter or regulations made under this Chapter, or circumstances where a person concerned is unable to use the electronic system at any particular time because of a general or partial systems failure of an internet service provider or of an electricity service provider, occurring in the general locality of the person’s place of business;

“uncertified subcontractor” means a subcontractor who is not a certified subcontractor;

“unreported payment notification” means a notification to the Revenue Commissioners of a relevant payment which has not been made in accordance with section 530C and where a deduction authorisation has not been issued in accordance with section 530D.

(2)In relation to a case where a subcontractor is chargeable to corporation tax, unless the context otherwise requires, references in this Chapter to tax shall include references to corporation tax and references to a year of assessment shall include references to an accounting period.

(3)For the purposes of the definition of “proprietary director” and “proprietary employee”, ordinary share capital which is owned or controlled as referred to in those definitions by a person, being a spouse, a civil partner, a minor child or a minor child of the civil partner, of a director or employee, or by a trustee of a trust for the benefit of a person or persons, being or including any such person or such director or employee, shall be deemed to be owned or controlled by such director or employee and not by any other person.

(4)This Chapter applies in relation to relevant operations which are carried out in the State or in a designated area regardless of whether or not one or more of the following circumstances apply in respect of those operations:

(a)that either or both the principal and the subcontractor under the relevant contract under which the operations are so carried out –

(i)is not or are not resident in the State for the year of assessment or accounting period, as may be appropriate, in which the operations are carried out, or

(ii)in relation to those relevant operations, is not or are not, or not deemed to be, carrying on in the State-

(I)through a branch or agency or otherwise, a trade in respect of which the principal or subcontractor, as the case may be, is liable to income tax or corporation tax, as may be appropriate, or

(II)through a permanent establishment, within the meaning of arrangements having the force of law by virtue of section 826(1), a business;

(b)that the relevant contract under which the relevant operations are carried out is not subject to the law of the State;

(c)that payment in respect of the relevant operations is made outside the State.

530A.

Principal to whom relevant contracts tax applies.

(1)Subject to subsections (2) and (3), this section applies to a principal who is –

(a)in respect of the whole or any part of a relevant contract, the contractor under another relevant contract,

(b)a person –

(i)carrying on a business that includes the erection of buildings or the development of land (within the meaning of section 639(1)) or the manufacture, treatment or extraction of materials for use, whether used or not, in construction operations, relevant contract

(ii)carrying on a business of meat processing operations in an establishment approved and inspected in accordance with the European Communities (Fresh Meat) Regulations, 1997 (S.I. No. 434 of 1997) or, as the case may be, the European Communities (Fresh Poultry-meat) Regulations, 1996 (S.I. No. 3 of 1996), or

(iii)carrying on a business that includes the processing (including cutting and preserving) of wood from thinned or felled trees in sawmills or other like premises or the supply of thinned or felled trees for such processing,

(c)a person connected with a company carrying on a business mentioned in paragraph (b),

(d)a local authority, a public utility society (within the meaning of section 2 of the Housing Act 1966) or a body referred to in subparagraph (i) or (ii) of section 12(2)(a) of that Act or section 19 or 45 of that Act,

(e)a Minister of the Government,

(f)any board or body established by or under statute or any board or body established by or under royal charter and funded wholly or mainly out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas,

(g)a person who carries on any gas, water, electricity, hydraulic power, dock, canal or railway undertaking, or

(h)a person who carries out the installation, alteration or repair in or on any building or structure of systems of telecommunications.

(2)A person carrying on a business shall not be deemed to be a person of a kind specified in subsection (1)(b) by reason only of the fact that in the course of that business such person erects buildings or develops land for the use or occupation of such person or employees of such person.

(3)

(a)Subject to paragraph (b), a person shall be deemed not to be a principal of a kind specified in subsection (1)(c) where the following conditions are met –

(i)in the performance of a relevant contract, the person makes a payment to a subcontractor solely in connection with construction operations carried out in or on buildings or land to be used or occupied by such person or the employees of such person, and

(ii)the person does not carry on a business of the type mentioned in subsection (1)(b)(i).

(b)Where a person is a principal of a kind specified in subsection (1)(c) by reason of the fact that such person is connected with a company carrying on a business of the type mentioned in subsection (1)(b)(i), paragraph (a) shall apply only where in addition to the conditions specified in that paragraph such person is a company.

530B.

Notification of contract by principal.

(1)Upon entering into a relevant contract, and in a case where subsection (2) applies, a principal to whom section 530A applies shall provide to the Revenue Commissioners –

(a)information in relation to –

(i)the identity of the subcontractor, including name and tax reference number,

(ii)the estimated contract value,

(iii)the estimated contract duration, including the estimated start date and estimated end date of the contract,

(iv)the location or locations at which relevant operations under the contract are to take place, and

(v)whether or not a contract is a labour only contract,

and

(b)a declaration stating that the principal is satisfied, if that is the case having regard to guidelines published by the Revenue Commissioners as to the distinction between contracts of employment and relevant contracts, that the named subcontractor is not performing the contract or any part of it as an employee of the principal.

(1A)

(a)Before providing the information and declaration referred to in subsection (1), a principal shall be satisfied as to the identity of the subcontractor concerned.

(b)For the purposes of paragraph (a), a principal shall require documentary evidence of identity from the subcontractor and shall make and retain a copy of the documentary evidence provided, or record and retain relevant details from the documentary evidence given.

(2)Where a relevant contract was entered into prior to commencement of this section, a principal to whom section 530A applies shall provide the information and declaration referred to in subsection (1) if a payment is outstanding under that contract, or under that contract as amended, on such commencement.

(3)The information and declaration required under subsection (1) shall be provided by electronic means, and the relevant provisions of Chapter 6 of Part 38 shall apply.

(4)The Revenue Commissioners shall make regulations for the purposes of this section and such regulations may –

(a)specify the manner by which principals shall communicate electronically with the Revenue Commissioners,

(b)in the case of a labour only contract, provide for the submission of additional information in relation to the contract,

(c)provide for the issuing of an acknowledgement by the Revenue Commissioners to a principal following notification by the principal of a contract under subsection (1) and for the manner by which such acknowledgement may issue,

(d)provide for notification to a subcontractor by the Revenue Commissioners of details of a contract, including changes to the terms of a contract, in respect of which a principal has notified the Revenue Commissioners under subsection (1) that the subcontractor is a party and for the manner by which such notification may issue

(e)provide for notification to the Revenue Commissioners by a principal of changes to the terms of a contract which has been notified under subsection (1),

(f)provide for a principal to notify a subcontractor where the Revenue Commissioners are unable to verify the identity of the subcontractor by reference to the name and tax reference number supplied to the Revenue Commissioners by the principal under subsection (1), and

(g)provide for any other related matters.

530C.

Notification of relevant payment by principal.

(1)Immediately before a principal makes a relevant payment to a subcontractor, the principal shall notify the Revenue Commissioners of his or her intention to make such a payment to the subcontractor and of the amount of that payment.

(2)The notification required under subsection (1) shall be given by electronic means and the relevant provisions of Chapter 6 of Part 38 shall apply.

(3)The Revenue Commissioners shall make regulations for the purposes of this section and such regulations may –

(a)specify the manner by which principals shall communicate electronically with the Revenue Commissioners,

(b)provide for the details to be supplied by a principal in relation to a payment referred to in subsection (1),

(c)specify the circumstances in which and the means by which a principal may cancel a notification given under subsection (1),

(d)specify the circumstances in which notification under this section is deemed not to have been given,

(e)provide for notification to a subcontractor where a payment notification is cancelled, and

(f)provide for any other related matters.

(g)the circumstances in which notification under this section is deemed to be cancelled, and

(h)any other related matters.

530D.

Deduction authorisation.

(1)Where a principal notifies the Revenue Commissioners in accordance with section 530C, the Revenue Commissioners shall issue a deduction authorisation to the principal in respect of the relevant payment to which the notification relates.

(2)A deduction authorisation issued under subsection (1) shall –

(a)specify, in accordance with section 530E, the rate of tax to be deducted from the payment, including, as appropriate, zero, and

(b)authorise the principal concerned to deduct a specified sum of tax or no tax from the relevant payment.

(3)At the end of each return period, the Revenue Commissioners shall issue a deduction summary to each registered principal in respect of that return period.

(4)The Revenue Commissioners shall issue deduction authorisations and deduction summaries by electronic means.

(5)The Revenue Commissioners shall make regulations for the purposes of this section and such regulations may –

(a)specify the manner by which the Revenue Commissioners shall communicate electronically with a principal,

(b)provide for the circumstances in which a deduction authorisation shall be valid and for the period of validity of a deduction authorisation,

(c)specify the details to be contained in a deduction summary,

(d)specify the obligations on a principal to ensure that a deduction summary accurately reflects the details of all relevant payments made, and tax deducted, by a principal in a return period, and

(e)provide for any other related matters.

530E.

Rates of tax.

(1)For the purpose of section 530D(2), the rate of tax –

(a)shall be zero where the Revenue Commissioners have made a determination that the subcontractor is a person to whom section 530G applies,

(b)shall be the standard rate (within the meaning of section 3) in force at the time of payment where the Revenue Commissioners have made a determination that the subcontractor is a person to whom section 530H applies,

(c)shall be 35 per cent where the Revenue Commissioners have made a determination that the subcontractor is a person to whom neither section 530G nor section 530H apply, and

(d)shall, in the case of a partnership, be the highest rate that would apply to any of the individual partners following a determination by the Revenue Commissioners under section 530I.

(2)Any reference to a determination in subsection (1) is to the most recent determination made by the Revenue Commissioners under section 530I or as determined on appeal in accordance with that section, in respect of the subcontractor concerned.

530F. Obligation on principals to deduct tax.
(1)A principal to whom a deduction authorisation is issued under section 530D shall deduct tax from the relevant payment concerned only in accordance with the terms of the deduction authorisation.

(2)A principal to whom section 530A applies who makes a relevant payment to a subcontractor in circumstances other than those referred to in subsection (1) shall, without prejudice to section 1078, be liable to a penalty of –

(a)35 per cent of the relevant payment, where the person to whom the relevant payment was made was a subcontractor who has not had a determination made by the Revenue Commissioners under section 530I,

(b)20 per cent of the relevant payment, where the person to whom the relevant payment was made was a subcontractor who has had a determination made by the Revenue Commissioners under section 530I and where neither section 530G nor section 530H applies to the subcontractor concerned,

(c)10 per cent of the relevant payment, where the person to whom the relevant payment was made was a subcontractor to whom section 530H applies, and

(d)3 per cent of the relevant payment, where the person to whom the relevant payment was made was a subcontractor to whom section 530G applies.

(3)

(a)Where subsection (2) applies, a principal shall submit an unreported payment notification to the Revenue Commissioners.

(b)The Revenue Commissioners shall make regulations for the purposes of this subsection and such regulations may –

(i)specify the manner by which principals shall submit an unreported payment notification to the Revenue Commissioners, and

(ii)provide for the details to be supplied to the Revenue Commissioners by a principal in relation to an unreported payment notification.

(4)Where, in making a relevant payment to a subcontractor, a principal deducts tax from the payment, the principal shall –

(a)provide the subcontractor with a copy of the deduction authorisation related to that payment, or

(b)arrange for the following details from the deduction authorisation to be given to the subcontractor by written or electronic means:

(i)the name and tax reference number of the principal,

(ii)the name and tax reference number of the subcontractor,

(iii)the gross amount of the payment, including the amount of tax deducted,

(iv)the amount of tax deducted,

(v)the rate at which tax was deducted,

(vi)the date of the payment, and

(vii)the unique reference number issued by the Revenue Commissioners on the deduction authorisation.

(5)The amount of tax which a principal is liable to deduct under subsection (1) from a relevant payment shall be due and payable by the principal concerned to the Revenue Commissioners in respect of the return period in which the payment is made.

(6)[deleted]

(7)Where, due to a persistent technology systems failure, a principal is unable to give notification to the Revenue Commissioners under section 530C(1) and has no option but to make a relevant payment without complying with that provision, subsection (2) shall not apply to that payment if the principal –

(a)deducts tax from that payment at the rate last notified to the principal in respect of the subcontractor concerned, or if there was no such notification, deducts tax at a rate of 35 per cent from that payment,

(b)immediately upon rectification of the technology systems failure notifies the Revenue Commissioners, in accordance with this Chapter or regulations made under this Chapter, that the payment has been made,

(c)provides all details in relation to the payment that the Revenue Commissioners may require, and

(d)pays the tax deducted in accordance with paragraph (a) to the Revenue Commissioners on or before the due date for the making of a return for the period within which the principal notifies the Revenue Commissioners under paragraph (b).

(8)Where a principal complies with the requirements of subsection (7) –

(a)the principal shall be deemed to have deducted tax from a relevant payment in accordance with the terms of a valid deduction authorisation, and

(b)for the purposes of section 530K, the payment shall be deemed to have been made in the return period in which the principal notifies the Revenue Commissioners under subsection (7)(b).

(9)A principal shall, on request, provide the Revenue Commissioners with information in relation to the circumstances and details of a persistent technology systems failure under subsection (7).

530G.

Zero rate subcontractor.

(1)Subject to subsections (2) and (3), this section applies to a person in relation to whom the Revenue Commissioners are satisfied that the person –

(a)is or is about to become a subcontractor engaged in the business of carrying out relevant operations,

(b)carries on or will carry on business from a fixed place established in a permanent building and has or will have such equipment, stock and other facilities as in the opinion of the Revenue Commissioners are required for the purposes of the business,

(c)properly and accurately keeps and will keep any business records to which section 886(2) refers and any other records normally kept in connection with such a business,

(d)has throughout the previous 3 years complied with all the obligations imposed by the Tax Acts, the Capital Gains Tax Acts and the Value-Added Tax Acts, in relation to –

(i)the payment or remittance of taxes, interest and penalties,

(ii)the delivery of returns, and

(iii)the supply, on request, of accounts or other information to a Revenue officer,

and

(e)in the case of a person who was resident outside the State at some time during the previous 3 years, has throughout that period complied with all the obligations comparable to those mentioned in paragraphs (c) and (d) imposed by the laws of the country in which that person was resident at any time during that period.

(2)This section does not apply to a person –

(a)engaged in the business of carrying out relevant contracts in partnership unless the partnership business itself has complied with the obligations referred to in subsection (1) and the Revenue Commissioners are satisfied that it will continue to comply with those obligations,

(b)which is a company, unless each director of the company and any person who is either the beneficial owner of, or able, directly or indirectly, to control more than 15 per cent of the ordinary share capital of the company, are persons to which paragraphs (c) and (d) of subsection (1) refer,

(c)who is or was a proprietary director or proprietary employee of a company engaged in the business of carrying out relevant contracts unless the company is a person to whom paragraphs (c) and (d) of subsection (1) refer,

(d)who, for good reason, the Revenue Commissioners consider unlikely to comply in the future with the obligations referred to in paragraph (c) or (d) of subsection (1), or

(e)if relevant operations (being construction operations, forestry operations or meat processing operations, as the case may be) similar to those being carried out or to be carried out by that person were previously, or are being, carried out by another person (in this subsection referred to as the ‘second-mentioned person’), and the second-mentioned person –

(i)is a company connected (within the meaning of section 10 as it applies for the purposes of the Tax Acts) with the first-mentioned person or would have been such a company but for the fact that the company has been wound up or dissolved without being wound up,

(ii)is a company and the first-mentioned person is a partner in a partnership in which –

(I)a partner is or was able, or

(II)where more than one partner is a shareholder, those partners together are or were able,

directly or indirectly, whether with or without a connected person or connected persons (within the meaning of section 10 as it applies for the purposes of the Tax Acts), to control more than 15 per cent of the ordinary share capital of the company, or

(iii)is a partnership and the first-mentioned person is a company in which –

(I)a partner is or was able, or

(II)where more than one partner is a shareholder, those partners together are or were able,

directly or indirectly, whether with or without a connected person or connected persons (within the meaning of section 10 as it applies for the purposes of the Tax Acts), to control more than 15 per cent of the ordinary share capital of the company,

but this paragraph does not apply if the second-mentioned person concerned is a person to whom paragraphs (c) and (d) of subsection (1) refer.

(3)This section also applies to a person who satisfies the Revenue Commissioners that, in all the circumstances, the matter or matters referred to in subsection (1) or (2), which would otherwise cause such person not to be a person to whom this section applies, ought to be disregarded for the purposes of this section.

530H.

Standard rate subcontractor.

(1)Subject to subsection (2), this section applies to a person in relation to whom the Revenue Commissioners are satisfied that the person –

(a)is or is about to become a subcontractor engaged in the business of carrying out relevant operations,

(b)carries on or will carry on business from a fixed place established in a permanent building and has or will have such equipment, stock and other facilities as in the opinion of the Revenue Commissioners are required for the purposes of the business,

(c)properly and accurately keeps and will keep any business records to which section 886(2) refers and any other records normally kept in connection with such a business,

(d)has throughout the previous 3 years complied substantially with the obligations imposed by the Tax Acts, the Capital Gains Tax Acts and the Value-Added Tax Acts,

(e)in the case of a person who was resident outside the State at some time during the previous 3 years, has throughout that period complied with the obligations comparable to those mentioned in paragraph (c) and has throughout that period complied substantially with the obligations comparable to those mentioned in paragraph (d) imposed by the laws of the country in which that person was resident at any time during that period,

(f)has provided to the Revenue Commissioners whatever information is required by them to register the person for tax purposes, and

(g)is not a person to whom section 530G applies.

(2)For the purposes of subsection (1)(d), the Revenue Commissioners may make regulations identifying matters to be taken into account by them, including –

(a)the payment or remittance of taxes, interest and penalties,

(b)the delivery of returns,

(c)the supply, on request, of accounts or other information to a Revenue officer, and

(d)the extent to which any non-compliance is being addressed.

(3)This section does not apply to –

(a)a person engaged in the business of carrying out relevant contracts in partnership unless the partnership business itself has complied with the obligations referred to in subsection (1) and the Revenue Commissioners are satisfied that it will continue to comply with those obligations, or

(b)a person if the Revenue Commissioners form an opinion that deductions from relevant payments at the standard rate of tax for the year of assessment will be insufficient to fully satisfy the income tax liability of the person for that year.

(4)This section also applies to a person who satisfies the Revenue Commissioners that, in all the circumstances, the matter or matters referred to in subsection (1), (2) or (3), which would otherwise cause such person not to be a person to whom this section applies, ought to be disregarded for the purposes of this section.

530I.

Determination of rates.

(1)For the purpose of establishing the rate of tax referred to in section 530E(1), the Revenue Commissioners shall, from time to time, determine whether a subcontractor is a person to whom section 530G applies, a person to whom section 530H applies or a person to whom neither section 530G nor 530H applies.

(2)Following a determination under subsection (1), the Revenue Commissioners shall notify the subcontractor of the determination and the rate of tax resulting from such determination.

(3)

(a)A subcontractor aggrieved by a determination of the Revenue Commissioners made under subsection (1) in respect of that subcontractor may appeal the determination to the Appeal Commissioners, in accordance with section 949I, within the period of 30 days after the date of that determination.

(b)[deleted]

(c)Pending the determination of an appeal under this section, the Revenue Commissioners may issue a deduction authorisation under this Chapter and –

(i)nothing in this subsection shall prejudice the validity of any such deduction authorisation issued, and

(ii)the principal concerned shall comply with the terms of any such deduction authorisation.

(4)The Revenue Commissioners shall not be obliged to make a determination under subsection (1) –

(a)until after a period of 30 days has elapsed following the previous determination made by the Revenue Commissioners in respect of a subcontractor,

(b)if an appeal by a subcontractor is awaiting determination under subsection (3), or

(c)until a period of 30 days has elapsed following determination of an appeal under subsection (3).

530J.

Register of principals.

(1)The Revenue Commissioners shall keep and maintain a register of principals for the purposes of this Chapter.

(2)Every principal to whom section 530B applies shall register as a principal with the Revenue Commissioners, unless he or she stands registered under section 531 immediately before the commencement of this section.

(3)The Revenue Commissioners shall make regulations for the purposes of this section and such regulations may provide for –

(a)keeping and maintaining the register,

(b)registration and time for registration,

(c)the particulars to be submitted to the Revenue Commissioners for the purposes of registering a person as a principal,

(d)notification of change in relevant details,

(e)notification of cessation as a principal,

(f)cancellation of registration,

(g)the use of electronic means in connection with the registration process, and

(h)any other related matters.

530K.

Return by principal.

(1)On or before the due date relating to a return period, a principal shall make a return to the Collector-General of all relevant payments made by him or her during that return period and shall specify on that return the amount of his or her tax liability under this Chapter.

(2)

(a)For the purposes of subsection (1), where the Revenue Commissioners issue, under section 530D(3), a deduction summary to a principal for a return period, the details on that summary shall, for the purposes of the Tax Acts, be deemed to be a return made by the principal to the Collector-General in respect of the return period and the amount of tax specified on that summary shall be deemed to be the amount specified by the principal of his or her tax liability under this Chapter in respect of that return period.

(b)Paragraph (a) does not apply where a principal is required to amend the details on a deduction summary in accordance with regulations made under this section and to submit a return under subsection (1) in accordance with those amended details, and so submits the required return.

(3)Without prejudice to section 530F, the amount of tax specified in a return made or deemed to have been made under this section shall be due and payable by the principal concerned to the Revenue Commissioners.

(4)A return required under this section, including a return to which section 530M applies, shall be made by electronic means and the relevant provisions of Chapter 6 of Part 38 shall apply.

(5)The Revenue Commissioners shall make regulations for the purposes of this section and such regulations may provide for –

(a)the manner by which principals shall communicate electronically with the Revenue Commissioners,

(b)the particulars to be included in the return required under this section,

(c)the obligations on, and the actions to be taken by, a principal to ensure that any relevant payment made by a principal relating to a return period and the tax liability related to that payment are accurately reflected on the return required under this section,

(d)notification to a subcontractor in relation to actions taken by a principal as referred to in paragraph (c), and

(e)any other related matters.

530L.

Payment of tax by principal.

(1)Tax due and payable in accordance with this Chapter shall be paid to the Collector-General not later than the due date relating to the return period concerned.

(2)Where tax is due and payable for a period covering more than one return period by virtue of section 530N, the due date relating to that tax shall be the due date relating to the earliest return period covered by the relevant assessment or return.

(3)A surcharge arising by virtue of section 530M shall be due and payable to the Revenue Commissioners and shall be payable at the same time as the amount of tax to which it relates is payable.

530M.

Late returns and amendments.

(1) Notwithstanding the requirements of section 530K(1), and without prejudice to any penalty to which the principal may be liable, a principal may, as appropriate –

(a)make a return required under section 530K(1) after the due date relating to the relevant return period, or

(b)amend a return after the making of the return or the deemed making of a return under section 530K(2) but –

(i)no amendment may be made in relation to any payment which has been the subject of a deduction authorisation under section 530D, and

(ii)no amendment may be made to a return where a Revenue officer has commenced an audit or other investigation in relation to the tax affairs of the principal to whom the return relates for the chargeable period in which the return period falls.

(2)Without prejudice to section 530F, where a principal makes or amends a return in accordance with subsection (1), then –

(a)the amount of tax specified on that return shall be due and payable by that principal to the Revenue Commissioners, and

(b)that principal shall be subject to a surcharge of €100.

(3)The Revenue Commissioners shall serve notice on the principal of the total amount of tax and surcharge due and payable under this section for the return period or periods concerned.

(4)Where enforcement action for the recovery of tax specified in a return made or deemed made under section 530K has been taken, this section shall not apply until that action has been completed, unless the Revenue Commissioners otherwise direct.

(5)The Revenue Commissioners shall make regulations for the purposes of this section and such regulations may provide for –

(a)the manner by which principals shall communicate electronically with the Revenue Commissioners,

(b)the particulars to be included in a return under this section,

(c)the actions to be taken by a principal to ensure that any relevant payment made by a principal relating to a return period and the tax liability related to that payment are accurately reflected on a return under this section,

(d)the format of a return which can be made in a case where a principal is appealing an assessment under section 530N, and

(e)any other related matters.

530N.

Assessment by Revenue officer.

(1)Where, in respect of a return period, a Revenue officer has reason to believe that a principal has not made a return under section 530K or 530M or that the amount of tax due and payable by a principal under this Chapter for a return period was greater than the amount of tax, if any, specified in a return made or deemed to have been made by that principal for that return period, then, without prejudice to any other action which may be taken, the officer may make an assessment in one sum of the total amount of tax which in his or her opinion is due and payable by the principal in respect of that return period.

(2)Without prejudice to section 530F, but subject to subsection (5), the amount of tax specified in an assessment under subsection (1) shall be due and payable to the Revenue Commissioners from the person so assessed.

(3)

(a)A Revenue officer may, where he or she considers it necessary, amend an assessment of tax made under subsection (1).

(b)Without prejudice to anything in this Chapter, the provisions of Chapter 5 of Part 41A and section 1048 (including those relating to time limits) shall, with any necessary modifications, apply to the making and amending of an assessment under this section.

(4)

(a)Where, in accordance with this section, the Revenue officer makes or amends an assessment, he or she shall give notice to the person assessed showing the total amount of tax due and payable in accordance with the assessment.

(b)Where the person assessed is a registered principal, the Revenue officer shall issue the notice of assessment or of amended assessment by electronic means.

(5)

(a)Subject to paragraph (b), a person aggrieved by an assessment, or an amended assessment, as the case may be, made on that person may appeal the assessment or the amended assessment to the Appeal Commissioners, in accordance with section 949I, within the period of 30 days after the date of the notice of assessment.

(b)A person to whom notice is given under subsection (4), shall not be entitled to appeal to the Appeal Commissioners –

(i)in the case of a person who has made a return (including a deemed return) under section 530K or a return under section 530M, until that person has paid the tax and any surcharge due and payable on the basis of his or her return together with the related interest due under section 530Q, and

(ii)in any other case, until the person has made a return under section 530M for the return period concerned and has paid the tax and surcharge due and payable on the basis of that return together with the related interest due under section 530Q.

(c)[deleted]

(d)On the determination of an appeal, the tax contained in an assessment or in an amended assessment shall, subject to section 530F, be due and payable by the person assessed to the Revenue Commissioners.

(6)A Revenue officer may make an assessment for a return period or for any number of consecutive return periods and an assessment may be issued before the end of the period to which it relates.

(7)

(a)Subject to paragraph (b), where a Revenue officer makes an assessment for a number of consecutive return periods, the person to whom notice is given shall not be entitled to appeal to the Appeal Commissioners until such a time as the person –

(i)makes the return required in respect of each return period covered by the assessment, or

(ii)elects to make one return covering the full period assessed and makes that return,

and subsection (5) shall apply with any necessary modifications.

(b)Where paragraph (a)(ii) applies, the Appeal Commissioners shall make their determination in respect of the full period assessed.

(8)The Revenue Commissioners shall make regulations for the purposes of this section and such regulations may provide for –

(a)the issuing of notices of assessment or amended assessment including the means by which such notices shall be issued,

(b)the transmission of information in connection with appeals,

(c)the format and transmission of returns in connection with appeals,

(d)the procedures to apply to give effect to subsection (7), and

(e)any other related matters.

530O.

Computation of subcontra.0ctor’s profit.

In computing, for the purposes of Schedule D, the profits or gains arising or accruing to a subcontractor who receives a payment from which tax has been deducted in accordance with section 530F, the payment shall be treated as being of an amount equal to the aggregate of the net amount received after deduction of the tax and the amount of the tax deducted.

530P.

Treatment of deducted tax.

(1)Where a principal deducts tax from a payment to a subcontractor in accordance with section 530F, such tax shall be treated as a payment on account by the subcontractor –

(a)of income tax for that tax year, where the tax was deducted in the basis period for a tax year, or

(b)of corporation tax for that accounting period, where the tax was deducted in an accounting period of a company.

(2)For the purposes of this Chapter, tax treated in accordance with subsection (1) shall be known as deducted tax.

(3)

(a)Deducted tax shall be available for offset by the Revenue Commissioners against other tax liabilities of a subcontractor and in this subsection ‘tax’ has the same meaning as in section 960A.

(b)The Revenue Commissioners shall notify a subcontractor of the amount of deducted tax, if any, which is offset against other tax liabilities of the subcontractor.

(4)Where an assessment to income tax or, as the case may be, corporation tax has been made in relation to a subcontractor for a chargeable period, then deducted tax related to that period less any amount which is either –

(a)required to meet the income tax or, as the case may be, corporation tax liability of the subcontractor, or

(b)offset against other tax liabilities of the subcontractor under subsection (3),

may, subject to section 865, be repaid to the subcontractor.

(5)No repayment of deducted tax shall be made, except in accordance with subsection (4).

(6)No amount of deducted tax shall be treated as a payment on account, set off or refunded more than once and no amount of deducted tax set off under subsection (3) or refunded under subsection (4) shall be treated as a payment on account.

530Q.

Interest.

Where an amount of tax or surcharge which a person is liable to pay under this Chapter to the Collector-General is not paid by the due date concerned, simple interest on the amount outstanding shall be paid by the person to the Collector-General and shall be calculated from the due date concerned until payment, for any day or part of a day during which the amount remains unpaid, at the rate of 0.0274 per cent.

530R.

Partnerships.

(1)As respects relevant contracts, where relevant operations are performed by a gang or group of persons (including persons in partnership), notwithstanding that any payment or part of a payment in respect of such relevant operations is made by the principal to one or more of the gang or group or to some other person, then, for the purposes of section 530P, such payment or part of a payment shall be deemed to have been made by the principal to the individual members of that gang or group in the proportions in which the payment or any amount in respect of the payment is to be divided amongst them, and the provisions of section 530P shall, with any necessary modifications, apply.

(2)Except where the principal concerned makes a separate payment to each member of the gang or group, a person authorised by the gang or group, or in the case of a partnership, the precedent partner, shall, in respect of tax deducted from relevant payments to the gang or group, give to the Revenue Commissioners –

(a)the name, address and tax reference number of every person in the gang or group, and

(b)details of the proportion of the tax deducted to which each person, named by virtue of this provision, is entitled.

(3)The Revenue Commissioners shall make regulations for the purposes of this section and such regulations may provide for the manner in which the information referred to in subsection (2) is to be given and the steps to be taken by the Revenue Commissioners on receipt of such information.

(4)Without prejudice to the duties and obligations of partners in a partnership, in a case where the principal is a partnership, all things required to be done by the principal under this Chapter shall be done by the precedent partner within the meaning of Part 43.

530S.

Record keeping.

(1)Before giving a notification to the Revenue Commissioners under section 530C, a principal shall obtain from the subcontractor concerned a statement setting out appropriate details of the work giving rise to the payment, and the cost of the work, and such statement shall bear the subcontractor’s name, business address and tax reference number.

(2)Where a relevant contract is being performed by a gang or group of persons (including persons in partnership), the invoice required under subsection (1) shall bear the name, business address and tax reference number of the gang or group and the names of the individual members of the gang or group.

(3)Every subcontractor shall furnish to a principal, on request, all such information or particulars as are required by the principal to enable the principal to comply with this Chapter.

(4)

(a)Without prejudice to other provisions of the Tax Acts, each subcontractor shall keep and maintain a record of all relevant payments received by him or her and the record shall state, in relation to each such payment, the date of the payment, the amount of the payment, the amount of tax, if any, deducted from the payment by the principal and the name of the person from whom the payment was received.

(b)Each subcontractor shall keep and maintain –

(i)a copy of each deduction authorisation supplied by a principal under section 530F(4)(a), or

(ii)a copy of any details given under section 530F(4)(b).

(5)Without prejudice to other provisions of the Tax Acts, the obligations contained in subsections (3) and (4) of section 886 to keep and retain records and linking documents apply to all records, documents or other data created or maintained manually or by any electronic means for the purposes of this Chapter.

(6)The Revenue Commissioners may make Regulations for the purposes of this section and such Regulations may provide for –

(a)the creation, keeping and retention of records by principals by electronic or other means, and

(b)the creation, keeping and retention of records by subcontractors by electronic or other means.

530T.

Inspection of records.

Without prejudice to other provisions of the Tax Acts, any person, or any employee of a person, who has made or received a relevant payment, shall produce to a Revenue officer for inspection all documents and records relating to the relevant payment as are in such person’s power, possession or procurement which have been requested by the Revenue officer.

530U.

Civil penalties.

(1)In proceedings for the recovery of a penalty under section 530F or the recovery of a penalty under section 1052, 1054 or, as appropriate, section 1077E or 1077F in relation to matters arising under this Chapter –

(a)a certificate signed by a Revenue officer which certifies that he or she has inspected the relevant records of the Revenue Commissioners and that it appears from them that a deduction authorisation, deduction summary or other notice, statement or described document, was duly given to a stated person by stated means, including electronic means, on a stated day shall be evidence until the contrary is proved that that person received that deduction authorisation, deduction summary or other notice, statement or described document in the ordinary course,

(b)a certificate signed by a Revenue officer which certifies that he or she has inspected the relevant records of the Revenue Commissioners and that it appears from them that on a stated day or within a stated period, a stated person was a registered principal (within the meaning of section 530) shall be evidence until the contrary is proved that on a stated day or within a stated period, a stated person was a registered principal (within the meaning of section 530), and

(c)a certificate certifying as provided for in paragraph (a) or (b) of this subsection and purporting to be signed by a Revenue officer may be tendered in evidence without proof and shall be deemed until the contrary is proved to have been signed by such officer.

(2)Chapter 3A of Part 47 applies, with any necessary modifications, to a penalty arising under section 530F.

530V.

Miscellaneous.

(1)Regulations made under this Chapter may contain such incidental, supplemental or consequential provisions as appear to the Revenue Commissioners to be necessary or expedient –

(a)to enable persons to fulfil their obligations under this Chapter or under regulations made under this Chapter, or

(b)to give effect to the proper implementation and efficient operation of the provisions of this Chapter or regulations made under this Chapter.

(1A)Regulations made under this Chapter shall be laid before Dáil Éireann as soon as may be after they are made and, if a resolution annulling those regulations is passed by Dáil Éireann within the next 21 days on which Dáil Éireann has sat after the regulations are laid before it, the regulations shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under them.

(1B)

(a)Anything required to be done by a principal under this Chapter or under regulations made under this Chapter may be done by another person acting under the authority of the principal.

(b)Where anything is done by such other person under the authority of the principal, this Chapter shall apply as if it had been done by the principal.

(c)Anything purporting to have been done by or on behalf of a principal shall for the purposes of this Chapter be deemed to have been done by the principal or by the principal’s authority, as the case may be, unless the contrary is proved.

(2)On the death of a principal, anything which the principal would have been liable to do under this Chapter shall be done by the personal representative of the principal.

(3)Anything to be done by or under this Chapter by the Revenue Commissioners, other than the making of regulations, may be done by any Revenue officer or may, if appropriate, be done through such electronic systems as the Revenue Commissioners may put in place for the time being for any such purpose.

(4)

(a)Notwithstanding the provisions of any other enactment, the provisions of this Chapter shall, subject to paragraphs (b) and (c) apply to a relevant payment made to a liquidator or a receiver.

(b)Where tax is deducted under this Chapter from a relevant payment made to a liquidator or receiver in respect of a relevant contract which is entered into by that liquidator or receiver after his or her appointment as such, the tax so deducted shall be treated as a payment on account of tax for the chargeable period concerned after the appointment of the liquidator or receiver.

(c)Where tax is deducted under this Chapter from a relevant payment made to a liquidator or receiver in respect of a relevant contract which was entered into prior to his or her appointment as such, the tax so deducted shall be treated as a payment on account of tax for the chargeable period prior to the appointment of the liquidator or receiver.

 

531.

Payments to subcontractors in certain industries.

Ceased from 1 January 2012
(1)Subject to this section, where in the performance of a relevant contract in the case of which the principal is –

(a)a person who, in respect of the whole or any part of the relevant operations to which the contract relates, is the contractor under another relevant contract,

(b)a person –

(i)carrying on a business which includes the erection of buildings or the development of land (within the meaning of section 639(1)) or the manufacture, treatment or extraction of materials for use, whether used or not, in construction operations,

(ii)carrying on a business of meat processing operations in an establishment approved and inspected in accordance with the European Communities (Fresh Meat) Regulations, 1997 (S.I. No. 434 of 1997) or, as the case may be, the European Communities (Fresh Poultry-meat) Regulations, 1996 (S.I. No. 3 of 1996), or

(iii)carrying on a business which includes the processing (including cutting and preserving) of wood from thinned or felled trees in sawmills or other like premises or the supply of thinned or felled trees for such processing,

(c)a person connected with a company carrying on a business mentioned in paragraph (b),

(d)a local authority, a public utility society (within the meaning of section 2 of the Housing Act, 1966) or a body referred to in subparagraph (i) or (ii) of section 12(2)(a) or section 19 or 45 of that Act,

(e)a Minister of the Government,

(f)any board established by or under statute or any board or body established by or under royal charter and funded wholly or mainly out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, or

(g)a person who carries on any gas, water, electricity, hydraulic power, dock, canal or railway undertaking, the principal makes a payment, or as respects relevant contracts entered into on or after the 15th day of May, 1996, is deemed to make a payment pursuant to subsection (3), to another person (whether the contractor or not and in this section referred to as “the subcontractor”), the principal shall deduct from the payment and pay to the Collector-General tax at the rate of 35 per cent of the amount of such payment.

(2)A person carrying on a business shall not be deemed to be a person of a kind specified in subsection (1)(b) by reason only of the fact that in the course of that business such person erects buildings or develops land for the use or occupation of such person or employees of such person.

(2A)

(a)Subject to paragraph (b), a person shall be deemed not to be a principal of a kind specified in subsection (1)(c) where the following conditions are met –

(i)in the performance of a relevant contract, the person makes a payment to a subcontractor solely in connection with construction operations carried out in or on buildings or land to be used or occupied by such person or the employees of such person, and

(ii)the person does not carry on a business of the type mentioned in subsection (1)(b)(i).

(b)Where a person is a principal of a kind specified in subsection (1)(c) by reason of the fact that such person is connected with a company carrying on a business of the type mentioned in subsection (1)(b)(i), paragraph (a) shall apply only where in addition to the conditions specified in that paragraph such person is a company.

(3)As respects relevant contracts entered into on or after the 15th day of May, 1996, where relevant operations are performed by a gang or group of persons, including a partnership in respect of which the principal has not received a relevant payments card, and notwithstanding that any payment or part of a payment in respect of such relevant operations is made by the principal to one or more of the gang or group or to some other person, then, for the purposes of this section and any regulations made under this section, such payment or part of a payment shall be deemed to have been made by the principal to the individual members of that gang or group in the proportions in which the payment or any amount in respect of the payment is to be divided amongst them.

(3A)

(a)Not later than 14 days after the end of a return period, a principal or any person who was previously a principal and who has been required to do so by notice in writing from the Revenue Commissioners, shall –

(i)make a return to the Collector-General, on the prescribed form, of the amount, if any, of tax which that person was liable under this section to deduct from payments made to uncertified subcontractors during that return period, and

(ii)remit to the Collector-General the amount of the tax, if any, which the person was so liable to deduct.

(b)The Collector-General shall furnish the person concerned with a receipt in respect of the payment; such a receipt shall consist of whichever of the following the Collector-General considers appropriate, namely –

(i)a separate receipt on the prescribed form in respect of each such payment, or

(ii)a receipt on the prescribed form in respect of all such payments that have been made within a period specified in the receipt.

(c)The Revenue Commissioners may make regulations with respect to the provision to them, by a principal or other person as is referred to in paragraph (a), of such information as may be specified in the regulations in relation to the constituent elements of the amount (if any) referred to in paragraph (a)(i).

(3AA)Where a return and remittance referred to, respectively, in subparagraphs (a)(i) and (a)(ii) of subsection (3A) are –

(a)as respects the return, made by electronic means and in accordance with Chapter 6 of Part 38, and

(b)as respects the remittance, made by such electronic means (within the meaning of section 917EA) as are required by the Revenue Commissioners,

then subsection (3A) shall apply and have effect as if ’23 days’ were substituted for ’14 days’, but where that return or remittance is made after the day provided for in this subsection the Income Tax Acts shall apply and have effect without regard to the provisions of this subsection.

(3B)

(a)Subject to paragraph (b), where a principal or any person who was previously a principal makes a remittance of tax in respect of a year of assessment or a period comprised in a year of assessment and details of the remittance are not included in a return required to be made under subsection (3A), the amount comprised in the remittance shall be deemed to be a remittance in respect of the first income tax month of the year of assessment.

(b)Where, within 1 month of interest being demanded of a person by the Collector-General under subsection (9) by virtue of the application of paragraph (a), the person makes a return to the Collector-General under subsection (3A) for the return period or periods to which the remittance of tax relates and of the amount comprised in the remittance for each of those return periods, paragraph (a) shall be deemed not to have applied and the remittance shall be treated for the purposes of this section as a remittance or, as the case may be, remittances of tax for the respective return period or periods.

(4)In computing for the purposes of Schedule D the profits or gains arising or accruing to a subcontractor who receives a payment from which tax has been deducted in accordance with subsection (1), the payment shall be treated as being of an amount equal to the aggregate of the net amount received after deduction of the tax and the amount of the tax deducted.

(5)In so far as a subcontractor is chargeable to tax in respect of any profits or gains arising or accruing to the subcontractor from a trade or vocation, the subcontractor shall be treated as having paid on account of tax so chargeable any tax which was deducted from payments taken into account in the computation of those profits or gains and which has not been repaid or for which a set-off has not been made, and the Revenue Commissioners shall make regulations for giving effect to this subsection and those regulations shall, in particular, include provision –

(a)as to the manner in which, and the periods for which, tax deducted under this section is to be taken into account as a sum paid on account of the liability to tax of a subcontractor,

(b)for repayment, on due claim made for a period (in this paragraph referred to as “the repayment period”) commencing on the 1st day of a year of assessment and ending on the last day of the income tax month in which the payment was made, of such portion of the tax deducted from payments received by a subcontractor during the repayment period (reduced by any amount of such tax repaid or set off) as appears to the Revenue Commissioners to exceed the proportionate part of the amount of tax for which the subcontractor is liable or is estimated to be liable for that year of assessment, and

(c)for repayment in cases where the total of the tax deducted from payments received by a subcontractor and not repaid to the subcontractor exceeds the aggregate of –

(i)the amount of tax for which the subcontractor is liable, and

(ii)any amount which the subcontractor is liable to remit –

(I)under the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010,

(II)under the Capital Gains Tax Acts,

(III)under Chapter 4 of Part 42, and

(IV)in respect of –

(A)employment contributions and self-employment contributions under the Social Welfare Acts,

(B)health contributions under the Health Contributions Act, 1979, and

(C)Employment and Training Levy under the Youth Employment Agency Act, 1981, as amended by the Labour Services Act, 1987.

(5A)A claim to repayment under regulations made in accordance with paragraph (b) or (c) of subsection (5) shall not be allowed at a time at which a claim to repayment in respect of the chargeable period (within the meaning of section 321), within which the period for which the claim to repayment relates falls, would not be allowed under section 865(4).

(5B)Where a claim to repayment, under regulations made in accordance with paragraph (b) or (c) of subsection (5), is based on tax deducted from a payment made to a subcontractor under subsection (1), the date of payment of that tax shall be deemed to be the date on which the certificate of deduction issued by a principal under regulation 6 of the Income Tax (Relevant Contracts) Regulations 2000 in respect of such tax is submitted to the Revenue Commissioners and the provisions of the Tax Acts shall apply accordingly.

(6)The Revenue Commissioners shall make regulations with respect to the assessment (including estimated assessment), estimation, charge, collection and recovery of tax deductible under subsection (1) and the regulations may, in relation to such tax, include any matters which might be included in regulations under section 986 in relation to tax deductible under Chapter 4 of Part 42 and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, regulations under this subsection may include provision for –

(a)

(i)the issue for a period covering not more than 2 years of assessment, or, in relation to such class or classes of subcontractor as may be specified in the regulations, for such longer period as may be so specified, of certificates of authorisation,

(ii)the refusal to issue, appeal against refusal to issue, recall or cancellation of certificates of authorisation and the surrender of such certificates, and

(iii)the production of documents or other material, including a photograph of the subcontractor or, in a case where the subcontractor is not an individual, a photograph of the individual by whom the certificate of authorisation will be produced in accordance with subsection (12)(a), in support of an application for a certificate of authorisation;

(b)

(i)the making, before the entering into of a relevant contract, by the persons who intend to enter into such a contract (other than where one of such persons comes within a class or classes of persons as may be specified in the regulations) of a declaration, in a specified form, to the effect that, having regard to guidelines published by the Revenue Commissioners for the information of such persons as to the distinctions between contracts of employment and relevant contracts and without prejudice to the question of whether a particular contract is a contract of employment or a relevant contract, they have satisfied themselves that in their opinion the contract which they propose to enter into is not a contract of employment,

(ii)the publication of guidelines by the Revenue Commissioners for the purposes of subparagraph (i),

(iii)the keeping by principals of every such declaration and the inspection of any or all such declarations, and

(iv)the delivery by principals of any or all such declarations to the Revenue Commissioners;

(ba)

(i)the setting up by the Revenue Commissioners and the maintenance by them of a register containing details of every person who is a principal within the meaning of section 530(1), and

(ii)requiring every such person as is specified in the regulations, to notify the Revenue Commissioners within the period and in such manner as is provided for in the said regulations, that that person is a principal for the purposes of this Chapter;

(c)the keeping by principals of –

(i)such records as may be specified in the regulations,

(ii)relevant payments cards and the entry on those cards of such particulars as may be specified in the regulations,

(iii)cards (in this Chapter referred to as “relevant tax deduction cards”) in such form as may be prescribed by the regulations and containing particulars of any deductions under subsection (1) and the entry on those cards of such other particulars as may be specified in the regulations;

(d)the making to the Revenue Commissioners of such returns relating to the payments made by principals as may be specified in the regulations and the inspection of the records referred to in paragraph (c) (including the cards referred to in that paragraph);

(e)the keeping by subcontractors of such records as may be specified in the regulations containing particulars of payments received by them, and the inspection of such records;

(f)the completion by principals of certificates of tax deducted (in this Chapter referred to as “certificates of deduction”) from payments made to subcontractors and, as respects relevant contracts entered into on or after the 15th day of May, 1996, the entry on certificates of deduction of such particulars as may be specified in the regulations;

(g)the furnishing by subcontractors to principals of all such information or particulars as are required by principals to enable principals to comply with any provision of regulations made under this section;

(h)the sending to subcontractors, in cases where tax was deducted under subsection (1) from payments made to them, of statements containing particulars of their liability (if any) to tax for a year of assessment.

(7)Every regulation made under this section shall be laid before Dáil Éireann as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by Dáil Éireann within the next 21 days on which Dáil Éireann has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

(8)The provisions of every enactment and of the Income Tax (Relevant Contracts) Regulations 2000 (S.I. No. 71 of 2000), which apply to the recovery of any amount of tax which a principal of the kind referred to in subsection (1) is liable under this section and those Regulations to pay to the Collector-General shall apply to the recovery of any amount of interest payable on that tax as if that amount of interest were a part of that tax.

(9)Where the amount of tax which a person who is or is deemed to be a principal of the kind referred to in subsection (1) is liable under this section and any regulations under subsection (6) to pay to the Collector-General is not so paid, simple interest on the amount shall be paid by the person to the Collector-General and shall be calculated from the date on which the amount became due and payable until payment –

(a)for any day or part of a day before 1 August 1978 during which the amount remains unpaid, at a rate of 0.0492 per cent,

(b)for any day or part of a day on or after 1 August 1978 and before 1 April 1998 during which the amount remains unpaid, at a rate of 0.0410 per cent,

(c)for any day or part of a day on or after 1 April 1998 and before 1 July 2009 during which the amount remains unpaid, at a rate of 0.0322 per cent, and

(d)for any day or part of a day on or after 1 July 2009 during which the amount remains unpaid, at a rate of 0.0274 per cent.

(10)Subsection (9) shall apply to tax recoverable from a person by virtue of a notice issued under the the Income Tax (Relevant Contracts) Regulations 2000, as if the tax were tax which the person was liable under subsection (3A) to remit –

(i)where the notice relates to a return period or periods, for the respective return period or periods referred to in the notice, and

(ii)where the notice relates to a year of assessment, for the first income tax month in the year of assessment to which the notice relates, but where the inspector determines, or, on appeal against the notice, the Appeal Commissioners determine, the amount of tax which the person was liable to remit, but had not remitted, for each return period comprised in the year of assessment, interest shall be calculated and payable in respect of each amount so determined in accordance with subsection (9) as if that amount were included in a notice in respect of the return period in question.

(11)

(a)Subject to subsection (11A), the Revenue Commissioners shall, on application to them in that behalf by a person, issue to the person a certificate (in this section referred to as a “certificate of authorisation”) if they are satisfied –

(i)that the person is or is about to become a subcontractor engaged in the business of carrying out relevant contracts,

(ii)that the business is or will be carried on from a fixed place of business established in a permanent building and has or will have such equipment, stock and other facilities as in the opinion of the Revenue Commissioners are required for the purposes of the business,

(iii)that in connection with the business records to which section 886(2) refers are being or will be kept, and any other records normally kept in connection with such a business are being or will be kept properly and accurately,

(iv)that –

(I)the person, any partnership in which the person is or was a partner and any company (within the meaning of the Companies Act, 1963) of which the person is or was a proprietary director or proprietary employee,

(II)in a case where the person is a partnership, each partner, and

(III)in a case where the person is a company, each director of the company and any person who is either the beneficial owner of, or able, directly or indirectly, to control, more than 15 per cent of the ordinary share capital of the company, has throughout the qualifying period complied with all the obligations imposed by the Tax Acts, the Capital Gains Tax Acts or the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010, in relation to –

(A)the payment or remittance of the taxes, interest and penalties required to be paid or remitted under those Acts,

(B)the delivery of returns, and

(C)requests to supply to an inspector accounts of, or other information about, any business carried on,

by that individual, partnership or company, as the case may be,

(v)that there is good reason to expect that that person, partnership or company will comply with the obligations referred to in subparagraphs (iii) and (iv) in relation to periods ending after the date of termination of the qualifying period, and

(vi)in the case of a person who was resident outside the State at some time during the qualifying period, that the person has throughout the qualifying period complied with all the obligations comparable to those mentioned in subparagraph (iv) imposed by the laws of the country in which that person was resident at any time during the qualifying period.

(b)A person referred to in paragraph (a) in respect of whom the Revenue Commissioners are not satisfied in relation to the matters specified in subparagraph (i) to (iv) and (vi) of that paragraph shall nevertheless, for the purposes of the issue of a certificate of authorisation, be treated as a person in respect of whom they are so satisfied if the Revenue Commissioners are of the opinion that in all the circumstances such person’s failure to satisfy them in relation to such matter or matters ought to be disregarded for those purposes.

(ba)Notwithstanding paragraph (a), where the Revenue Commissioners have issued a certificate of authorisation to a person under the provisions of that paragraph or paragraph (b), the Revenue Commissioners may issue a further certificate of authorisation to that person without a requirement that the person make a further application to them in that behalf, where they are satisfied, in respect of that person, in relation to the matters specified in subparagraphs (i) to (vi) of paragraph (a), or, as the case may be, where the provisions of paragraph (b) apply.

(c)A certificate of authorisation issued under this subsection shall be valid for such period as the Revenue Commissioners may provide by regulations made pursuant to subsection (6).

(11A)Where a person applies for a certificate of authorisation in accordance with subsection (11) (in this subsection referred to as the ‘first-mentioned person’) and relevant operations (being construction operations, forestry operations or meat processing operations, as the case may be) similar to those being carried out or to be carried out by that person were previously, or are being, carried out by another person (in this subsection referred to as the ‘second-mentioned person’), and the second-mentioned person –

(a)is a company connected (within the meaning of section 10 as it applies for the purposes of the Tax Acts) with the first-mentioned person or would have been such a company but for the fact that the company has been wound up or dissolved without being wound up,

(b)is a company and the first-mentioned person is a partnership in which –

(I)a partner is or was able, or

(II)where more than one partner is a shareholder, those partners together are or were able,

directly or indirectly, whether with or without a connected person or connected persons (within the meaning of section 10 as it applies for the purposes of the Tax Acts), to control more than 15 per cent of the ordinary share capital of the company, or

(c)the second-mentioned person is a partnership and the first-mentioned person is a company in which –

(I)a partner is or was able, or

(II)where more than one partner is a shareholder, those partners together are or were able,

directly or indirectly, whether with or without a connected person or connected persons (within the meaning of section 10 as it applies for the purposes of the Tax Acts), to control more than 15 per cent of the ordinary share capital of the company,then, a certificate of authorisation shall not be issued under subsection (11) to the first-mentioned person unless the second-mentioned person is in compliance with the obligations imposed on that person by the Tax Acts, the Capital Gains Tax Acts and the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010 in relation to the matters specified in paragraphs (a) (iii) and (iv) of subsection (11).

(12)

(a)Where a subcontractor to whom a certificate of authorisation has been issued produces it to a principal, the principal shall apply to the Revenue Commissioners for a card (in this Chapter referred to as a ‘relevant payments card’) in respect of the subcontractor.

(b)Notwithstanding paragraph (a), where –

(i)a subcontractor has notified the Revenue Commissioners of details of the bank account, held in the State in the name of the subcontractor or in the case of a subcontractor who is not resident in the State, held either in the State or in the State in which the subcontractor is resident, into which payments in respect of relevant contracts are to be made (hereafter in this subsection referred to as ‘the nominated bank account’), and

(ii)the principal undertakes to make all payments to the subcontractor in question directly to the nominated bank account,

the principal may apply to the Revenue Commissioners for a relevant payments card where the subcontractor has provided details of the certificate of authorisation to the principal together with details of the nominated bank account into which payments are to be made by the principal.

(c)Notwithstanding paragraphs (a) and (b), a principal may apply for a relevant payments card in respect of a subcontractor for a year of assessment where –

(i)the principal has been issued with a relevant payments card in respect of the subcontractor for the immediately preceding year of assessment,

(ii)the relevant contract between the principal and the subcontractor in relation to which the relevant payments card is required is likely to be ongoing at the end of that preceding year, and

(iii)the principal has obtained from the subcontractor details of the subcontractor’s certificate of authorisation for the year of assessment to which the application for the relevant payments card relates.

(d)Subject to the following provisions of this subsection and to subsection (13), where, on the making to them by a principal of an application under paragraph (a), (b) or (c), the Revenue Commissioners are satisfied that a relevant payments card in respect of the subcontractor concerned ought to be issued, they shall issue such a card to the principal who, on receiving the card, shall, during the year of assessment (or the unexpired portion of the year of assessment) to which the relevant payments card relates, be entitled, subject to any limit imposed on the card in accordance with paragraph (e), to make payment, without deduction of tax, to the subcontractor named on the card but, in the case of an application to which paragraph (b) applies, or an application to which paragraph (c) applies where the relevant payments card mentioned in subparagraph (i) of that paragraph was issued following an application made under and in accordance with paragraph (b), any such payments shall be made by the principal directly to the nominated bank account.

(e)Where it appears requisite to them to do so for the protection of the revenue, the Revenue Commissioners may, by specifying the amount thereof on a relevant payments card, impose a limit (in this section referred to as the ‘specified limit’) on the amount of the payments that a principal may make, without deduction of tax, to the subcontractor named on the card.

(f)Where a specified limit has been applied by them for a year of assessment in relation to a relevant payments card by virtue of paragraph (e), the Revenue Commissioners, either at the request of the subcontractor named on the card or otherwise, may, as they consider it appropriate, amend the limit by reducing, increasing or removing it.

(g)Where, in accordance with paragraph (f), the Revenue Commissioners amend a specified limit applied to a relevant payments card, they shall issue to the principal, and the principal shall thereafter use, a new relevant payments card.

(h)Where a specified limit is applied to a relevant payments card, the subcontractor named on the card shall, at the same time as the card is issued to the principal, be notified in writing by the Revenue Commissioners of the application of the limit and the amount, or revised amount, thereof, as the case may be.

(i)Where, in a year of assessment, the aggregate of the amount of the payments made by a principal to a subcontractor exceeds the specified limit, if any, imposed on the relevant payments card, or the amended relevant payments card, as the case may be, issued in respect of that subcontractor, the principal shall deduct from such excess, and pay to the Collector-General, tax in accordance with subsection (1).

(13)

(a)Where it appears to the Revenue Commissioners that –

(i)a certificate of authorisation was issued on the basis of false or misleading information,

(ii)a certificate of authorisation would not have been issued if information obtained subsequent to its issue had been available at the date of its issue,

(iii)a person to whom a certificate of authorisation was issued has permitted it to be misused,

(iv)in the case of a certificate issued to a company, there has been a change in control (within the meaning of section 432) of the company,

(v)a person to whom a certificate of authorisation was issued has failed to comply with any of the obligations imposed on such person by the Tax Acts, the Capital Gains Tax Acts, the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010, or by any regulations made thereunder in relation to –

(I)the payment or remittance of the taxes required to be paid or remitted under any of those Acts,

(II)the delivery of returns, and

(III)requests to supply to an inspector accounts of, or other information about, any business carried on by such person,

or

(vi)the business of carrying out relevant contracts in relation to which the certificate of authorisation was issued has ceased to be carried on by the person to whom the certificate was issued,

the Revenue Commissioners may at any time cancel the certificate and give notice in writing to that effect to any principal.

(b)Where a principal receives a notice under paragraph (a), the principal shall –

(i)deduct tax in accordance with subsection (1) from any payments made to the person to whom the notice relates on or after the date of receipt of the notice, and

(ii)return to the Revenue Commissioners any relevant payments cards issued to the principal in relation to that person and any relevant tax deduction card kept by the principal in relation to that person.

(c)The Revenue Commissioners shall advise a person in relation to whom a notice under paragraph (a) was issued of the issue of such notice and shall require such person to return to them forthwith the certificate of authorisation issued to such person.

(14)

(a)Where any person –

(i)for the purpose of obtaining a certificate of authorisation or a relevant payments card makes any false statement or furnishes any document which is false in a material particular,

(ii)disposes of a certificate of authorisation otherwise than by the return of the certificate to the Revenue Commissioners,

(iii)fails to return a certificate of authorisation to the Revenue Commissioners when required to do so in accordance with subsection (13)(c),

(iv)is in possession of a certificate of authorisation that was not issued to such person by the Revenue Commissioners, or

(v)produces to a principal a certificate of authorisation after such person has been advised by the Revenue Commissioners of the issue of a notice under subsection (13)(c),

such person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of €5,000 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both the fine and the imprisonment.

(b)Any person who aids, abets, counsels or procures –

(i)the obtaining of a certificate of authorisation by means of a false statement,

(ii)the use by any person, other than the person to whom it was issued by the Revenue Commissioners, of a certificate of authorisation, or

(iii)the production to a principal of a document that is not a certificate of authorisation but purports to be such a certificate,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of €5,000 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both the fine and the imprisonment.

(c)Any person who –

(i)fails to enter on a relevant payments card or relevant tax deduction card such particulars as are required to be entered on that card by virtue of this section and any regulations made under this section,

(ii)fails to return to the Revenue Commissioners the relevant payments card or relevant tax deduction card in accordance with subsection (13)(b),

(iii)returns to the Revenue Commissioners any such card on which are entered particulars which are incorrect in any material particular,

(iv)fails to comply with any provision of regulations made under this section requiring such person –

(I)to make any declaration,

(II)to provide any information or particulars to principals,

(III)to keep or produce any records, documents or declarations, or

(IV)to deliver declarations to the Revenue Commissioners,

(v)fails to give a subcontractor from whom tax has been deducted under subsection (1) a certificate of deduction in the prescribed form containing such particulars as are required to be entered in that certificate by virtue of any regulations made under this section, or

(vi)being a company to which a certificate of authorisation has been issued under subsection (11), fails to notify the Revenue Commissioners of a change in control (within the meaning of section 432) of the company,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of €5,000.

(15)Notwithstanding any other enactment, summary proceedings in respect of offences under this section may be instituted within 10 years of the commission of the offence.

(16)Section 987(4), subsection (4) of section 1052 (other than as that subsection applies in relation to proceedings for the recovery of a penalty in relation to a return referred to in sections 879 and 880), subsections (9) and (17) of section 1077E and sections 1068 and 1069 shall, with any necessary modifications, apply for the purposes of this section and any regulations made under this section as they apply for the purposes of those provisions.

(17)Any person who is aggrieved by a refusal by the Revenue Commissioners to issue a certificate of authorisation under this section may, by notice in writing to that effect given to the Revenue Commissioners within 30 days from the date of such refusal, apply to have such person’s application heard and determined by the Appeal Commissioners.

(17A) Any person who is aggrieved by the cancellation of a certificate of authorisation by the Revenue Commissioners in accordance with subsection (13) may, by notice in writing to that effect given to the Revenue Commissioners within 30 days from the date of such cancellation, appeal against such cancellation to the Appeal Commissioners but, pending the decision of the Appeal Commissioners in the matter, unless the Revenue Commissioners, on application to them, reinstate the certificate of authorisation pending the making of that decision, the certificate shall remain cancelled.

(17B)Any person who is aggrieved by the imposition by the Revenue Commissioners, under subsection (12), of a specified limit in relation to a relevant payments card, or an amended relevant payments card, as the case may be, may, by notice in writing to that effect given to the Revenue Commissioners within 30 days from the date of issue of the relevant payments card concerned, appeal against the imposition of such a limit to the Appeal Commissioners, but, pending the decision of the Appeal Commissioners in the matter, the limit shall remain in place.

(18)The Appeal Commissioners shall hear and determine an appeal made to them under subsection (17), (17A) or (17B) as if it were an appeal against an assessment to income tax and, subject to subsection (19), the provisions of the Income Tax Acts relating to such an appeal (including the provisions relating to the rehearing of an appeal and to the statement of a case for the opinion of the High Court on a point of law) shall apply accordingly with any necessary modifications.

(19)On the hearing of an appeal made under subsection (17) or (17B), the Appeal Commissioners shall have regard to all matters to which the Revenue Commissioners may or are required to have regard under this section.

(20)For the purposes of the hearing or rehearing of an appeal under subsection (17), (17A) or (17B), the Revenue Commissioners may nominate any of their officers to act on their behalf.

 

Schedule 13 Accountable Persons for Purposes of Chapter 1 of Part 18

Section 521.

1.A Minister of the Government.

2.A local authority within the meaning of the Local Government Act 2001 (as amended by the Local Government Reform Act 2014).

3.A body established under the Local Government Services (Corporate Bodies) Act, 1971.

4.[deleted]

5.Primary Care Reimbursement Service.

6.The Attorney General.

7.The Comptroller and Auditor General.

8.The Director of Public Prosecutions.

9.[deleted]

10.[deleted]

11.[deleted]

12.The Revenue Commissioners.

13.Public Appointments Service.

14.The Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland.

15.The Clerk of Dáil Éireann.

16.The Legal Aid Board.

17.An education and training board.

18.Teagasc.

19.[deleted]

20.[deleted]

21.Údarás na Gaeltachta.

22.The Industrial Development Agency (Ireland).

23.[deleted]

24.[deleted]

25.The National Tourism Development Authority.

26.A designated institution of higher education within the meaning of the Higher Education Authority Act 2022 that falls under paragraph (a) of section 53(1) of that Act and that is also a funded body within the meaning of that Act.

27.[deleted]

28.[deleted]

29.A voluntary public or joint board hospital to which grants are paid by the Minister for Health and Children in the year 1988-89 or any subsequent year of assessment.

30.An authorised insurer within the meaning of section 470.

31.[deleted]

32.An Bord Pleanála.

33.[deleted]

34.[deleted]

35.daa public limited company.

36.[deleted]

37.Blood Transfusion Service Board.

38.An Bord Bia.

39.Rásaíocht Con Éireann.

40.Ervia.

41.Bord Iascaigh Mhara.

42.Bord na Móna plc.

43.[deleted]

44.Coillte Teoranta.

45.[deleted]

46.Coras Iompair Éireann.

47.[deleted]

48.Electricity Supply Board.

49.Housing Finance Agency plc.

50.[deleted]

51.Irish National Petroleum Corporation Limited.

52.Irish National Stud Company Limited.

53.National Building Agency Limited.

54.National Concert Hall.

55.The Marine Institute.

56.[deleted]

57.[deleted]

58.An Post.

59.Raidió Teilifís Éireann.

60.[deleted]

61.Royal Hospital Kilmainham Company.

62.The Environmental Protection Agency.

63.[deleted]

64.[deleted]

65.The Irish Aviation Authority.

66.[deleted]

67.[deleted]

68.The National Roads Authority.

69.Temple Bar Properties Limited.

70.Fís Éireann – Screen Ireland.

71.[deleted]

72.[deleted]

73.Pobal.

74.The Commissioner of Irish Lights.

75.[deleted]

76.The Heritage Council.

77.The Higher Education Authority.

78.[deleted]

79.Horse Racing Ireland.

80.[deleted]

81.[deleted]

82.The Pensions Authority.

83.The Commission for Communications Regulation.

84.The Law Reform Commission.

85.[deleted]

86.[deleted]

87.[deleted]

88.[deleted]

89.National Standards Authority of Ireland.

90.Enterprise Ireland.

91.[deleted]

92.A Referendum Commission established by order made under section 2(1) of the Referendum Act, 1998.

93.The Office of the Ombudsman.

94.The Standards in Public Office Commission.

95.The Office of the Information Commissioner.

96.[deleted]

97.[deleted]

98.[deleted]

99.Western Development Commission.

100.[deleted]

101.[deleted]

102.Commission for Regulation of Utilities.

103.[deleted]

104.[deleted]

104.[deleted]

105.[deleted]

106.Údarás Uchtála na hÉireann.

107.[deleted]

108.National Disability Authority.

109.Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board.

110.Office of the President.

111.Director of the Equality Tribunal.

112.[deleted]

113.[deleted]

114.[deleted]

115.Chief State Solicitor.

116.Central Statistics Office.

117.Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.

118.[deleted]

119.Digital Hub Development Agency.

120.Citizens Information Board.

121.[deleted]

122.[deleted]

123.[deleted]

124.The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

125.Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council.

126.Sustainable Energy Ireland The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.

127.The Health Insurance Authority.

128.Commission for Aviation Regulation.

129.[deleted]

130.[deleted]

131.[deleted]

132.[deleted]

133.[deleted]

134.Mater and Children’s Hospital Development Ltd.

135.[deleted]

136.[deleted]

137.The Marine Casualty Investigation Board.

138.National Treasury Management Agency as regards the performance of functions by it conferred on, or delegated to, it by or under Part 2 of the National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Act 2000. (State Claims Agency).

139.[deleted]

140. The Personal Injuries Assessment Board.

141.The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.

142.The State Examinations Commission.

143.[deleted]

144.National Treatment Purchase Fund Board.

145.The Mental Health Commission.

146.[deleted]

147.[deleted]

148.Health Products Regulatory Authority.

149.[deleted]

150.Oifig Choimisinéir na dTeangacha Oifigiúla.

151.The Health Service Executive.

152.Commission for Public Service Appointments.

153.[deleted]

154.National Council for Special Education.

155.National Library of Ireland.

156.An Education Support Centre established under section 37 of the Education Act 1998.

157.[deleted]

158.The Road Safety Authority.

159.Grangegorman Development Agency.

160.Commission for Railway Regulation.

161.The Teaching Council.

162.EirGrid.

163.[deleted]

164.Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority.

165.[deleted]

166.[deleted]

167.The Health Information and Quality Authority.

168.Teilifís na Gaeilge.

169.Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

170.[deleted]

171.Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority.

172.[deleted]

173.National Economic and Social Development Office.

174.The National Asset Management Agency or a company to which section 616(1)(g) relates.

175.National Transport Authority.

176.The Medical Council.

177.Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Limited.

178.Central Bank of Ireland.

179.Office of the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman.

180.Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

181.Inland Fisheries Ireland.

182.[deleted]

183.The body known as the Credit Review Office established pursuant to guidelines issued under section 210 of the National Asset Management Agency Act 2009.

184.Health and Safety Authority.

185.Irish Takeover Panel.

186.The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland.

187.Ombudsman for Children.

188.Health and Social Care Professional Council.

189.Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland.

190.Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland.

191.Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission.

192.Credit Union Restructuring Board.

193.Child and Family Agency.

194.An tSeirbhís Oideachais Leanúnaigh agus Scileanna (SOLAS).

195.A regional assembly established by an order made under section 43(1) of the Local Government Act 1991.

196.Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission.

197.Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.

198.Regulator of the National Lottery.

199.Shannon Group plc.

200.Charities Regulatory Authority.

201.Policing Authority.

202.Educational Research Centre

203.Sport Ireland.

204.A company to which section 7 of the Harbours Act 1996 applies.

205.Data Protection Commission.

206.A Director of Authorised Intervention under the Institutional Burials Act 2022.

207.An Coimisiún Toghcháin.

208.Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority.

209.The Land Development Agency.

210.Uisce Éireann.

211.Royal Irish Academy.

212.Irish Air Navigation Service.

213.Tailte Éireann.

214.Coimisiún na Meán.