Development Land
TAXES CONSOLIDATION ACT
Chapter 2
Capital gains tax: disposals of development land (ss. 648-653)
648.
Interpretation (Chapter 2).
In this Chapter –
“the Act of 1963” means the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963;
“the Act of 2000” means the Planning and Development Act 2000;
“compulsory disposal” means a disposal to an authority possessing compulsory purchase powers, which is made pursuant to the exercise of those powers or the giving of formal notice of intention to exercise those powers, other than a disposal to which section 29 of the Act of 1963 applies;
“current use value”-
(a)in relation to land at any particular time, means the amount which would be the market value of the land at that time if the market value were calculated on the assumption that it was at that time and would remain unlawful to carry out any development (within the meaning of section 3 of the Act of 1963, or, on or after 21 January 2002, within the meaning of section 3 of the Act of 2000) in relation to the land other than development of a minor nature, and
(b)in relation to shares in a company (being shares deriving their value or the greater part of their value directly or indirectly from land, other than shares quoted on a stock exchange) at any particular time, means the amount which would be the market value of the shares at that time if the market value were calculated on the same assumption, in relation to the land from which the shares so derive value, as is mentioned in paragraph (a);
“development land” means land in the State the consideration for the disposal of which, or the market value of which at the time at which the disposal is made, exceeds the current use value of that land at the time at which the disposal is made, and includes shares deriving their value or the greater part of their value directly or indirectly from such land, other than shares quoted on a Stock Exchange;
“development of a minor nature” means development (not being development by a local authority or a statutory undertaker within the meaning of section 2 of the Act of 1963, or, on or after 11 March 2002, within the meaning of section 2 of the Act of 2000) which, under or by virtue of section 4 of the Act of 1963, or, on or after 11 March 2002, under or by virtue of section 4 of the Act of 2000, is exempted development for the purposes of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Acts 1963 to 1999 or the Act of 2000;
“relevant disposal” means a disposal of development land made on or after the 28th day of January, 1982.
649.
Companies chargeable to capital gains tax in respect of chargeable gains accruing on relevant disposals.
(1)Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in the Corporation Tax Acts, a company shall not be chargeable to corporation tax in respect of chargeable gains accruing to it on relevant disposals, and accordingly –
(a)such gains shall not be regarded as profits of the company for the purposes of corporation tax, and
(b)the company shall be chargeable to capital gains tax under the Capital Gains Tax Acts in respect of those gains.
(2)Sections 617 and 621 to 626 shall apply with any necessary modifications in relation to capital gains tax to which a company is chargeable on chargeable gains accruing to the company on a relevant disposal as they apply in relation to corporation tax on chargeable gains, and references in those sections to corporation tax shall be construed as including references to capital gains tax.
(3)
(a)Where a company which is or has been a member of a group of companies (within the meaning of section 616) makes a relevant disposal of an asset which, as a result of a disposal which was not a relevant disposal, the company had acquired from another member of that group at a time when both were members of the group, the amount of the chargeable gain accruing on the relevant disposal and the capital gains tax on that gain shall be computed as if all members of the group for the time being were the same person and as if the acquisition or provision of the asset by the group, so taken as a single person, had been the acquisition or provision of the asset by the member disposing of the asset.
(b)Notwithstanding paragraph (a), where under section 618(2) or 623 a member of the group (in this paragraph referred to as “the first-mentioned member”) had been treated as having acquired or reacquired the asset at a time later than the original acquisition or provision of the asset by the first-mentioned member or by another member of the group, as the case may be, paragraph (a) shall apply as if the reference in that paragraph to the acquisition or provision of the asset by the group were a reference to its acquisition or reacquisition so treated as having been made by the first-mentioned member.
649A.
Relevant disposals: rate of charge.
(1)Notwithstanding section 28(3) and subject to subsection (2), the rate of capital gains tax in respect of a chargeable gain accruing to a person on a relevant disposal shall be –
(a)in the case of a relevant disposal made in the period from 3 December 1997 to 30 November 1999, 40 per cent, and
(b)in the case of a relevant disposal made on or after 6 December 2012, 33 per cent.
(c)[deleted]
(2)
(a)Subsection (1) shall not apply to a relevant disposal to which this subsection applies and, accordingly, the rate of capital gains tax in respect of a chargeable gain on such a relevant disposal shall be 20 per cent.
(b)This subsection shall apply to the following:
(i)[deleted]
(ii)a relevant disposal made in the period from 23 April 1998 to 30 November 1999, being a disposal of land to a housing authority (within the meaning of section 23 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1992) which land is specified in a certificate given by the housing authority as land required for the purposes of the Housing Acts, 1966 to 1998;
(iii)a relevant disposal made in the period from 10 March 1999 to 30 November 1999, being a disposal of land to the National Building Agency Limited or to a body approved for the purposes of section 6 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1992, which land is specified in a certificate given by a housing authority or the National Building Agency Limited, as appropriate, as land required for the purposes of the Housing Acts, 1966 to 1998;
(iv)a relevant disposal made in the period from 23 April 1998 to 30 November 1999, being a disposal of land in respect of the whole of which, at the time at which the disposal is made, permission for residential development has been granted under section 26 of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963, and such permission has not ceased to exist, other than a disposal to which paragraph (c) applies;
(v)a relevant disposal made in the period from 10 March 1999 to 30 November 1999, being a disposal of land in respect of the whole of which, at the time at which the disposal is made, is, in accordance with a development objective (as indicated in the development plan of the planning authority concerned), for use solely or primarily for residential purposes other than a disposal to which paragraph (c) applies.
(c)This paragraph shall apply to a relevant disposal being a disposal –
(i)by a person (in this paragraph referred to as the “disponer”) to a person who is connected with the disponer, or
(ii)of land under a relevant contract in relation to the disposal.
(3)In this section –
‘development plan’ has the meaning assigned to it by the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963;
‘planning authority’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 2(2) of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963;
‘relevant contract’, in relation to a disposal of land, means a contract or other arrangement under which the land is disposed of which is conditional on permission for development, other than permission for residential development, being granted under section 26 of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963, in respect of the land;
‘residential development’ includes any development which is ancillary to the development and which is necessary for the proper planning and development of the area in question.
649B.
Windfall gains from rezonings: rate of charge.
(1)In this section –
‘development land-use’ means residential, commercial or industrial uses or a mixture of such uses;
‘loss arising on rezoning’ means a loss realised on or after 30 October 2009 on a disposal of land to the extent to which that loss is attributable solely to a decrease in the market value of the land arising on a rezoning, and which loss has not otherwise been effectively relieved;
‘non-development land-use’ means a land-use which is agricultural, open space, recreational or amenity use or a mixture of such uses;
‘relevant planning decision’, in relation to land and in accordance with the Planning and Development Act 2000 (in this definition referred to as the ‘Act of 2000’), means –
(a)a change in the zoning of land in a development plan or a local area plan made or varied under Part II of the Act of 2000 from non-development land-uses to development land-uses or from one development land-use to another development land-use including a mixture of such uses, or
(b)a decision to grant permission, in accordance with section 34(6) or 37(2) of the Act of 2000, for a development that would materially contravene a development plan;
‘windfall gain’ means any increase in the market value of land which is attributable to a relevant planning decision.
(2)This section applies to a relevant disposal where the disposal consists of land that –
(a)has been the subject of a relevant planning decision since its acquisition by the person making the disposal,
(b)was acquired from a connected person and the acquisition cost for the purposes of the Capital Gains Tax Acts was other than market value, where the relevant planning decision took place during the ownership period of either person, or
(c)was the subject of a sequence of transfers between connected persons, if the relevant planning decision took place during the period between the date of disposal and the latest date at which the acquisition cost, at any step in the sequence, was market value.
(3)Notwithstanding section 28(3), the rate of capital gains tax in respect of a chargeable gain, being the lesser of the gain arising on the disposal and the windfall gain, accruing to a person on a relevant disposal to which this section applies shall be 80 per cent.
(4)This section shall not apply to a disposal of land to which subsection (2) relates where –
(a)the land is disposed of to an authority possessing compulsory purchasing powers, but only if the Revenue Commissioners are satisfied that the disposal would not have been made but for the exercise of those powers or the giving by the authority of formal notice of its intention to exercise those powers,
(b)the disposal is a disposal by a company referred to in section 616(1)(g), or
(c)the disposal is the disposal of a site of 0.4047 hectares or less whose market value at the date of disposal does not exceed €250,000 (notwithstanding that a planning authority may have granted permission in respect of that site in accordance with section 34(1) of the Planning and Development Act 2000), other than where the disposal by the person making it, or by a person connected with that person, forms part of a larger transaction or series of transactions,
and, accordingly, the rate of capital gains tax in respect of a chargeable gain on a relevant disposal referred to in paragraphs (a) to (c) shall be the rate specified in section 28(3).
(5)Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in the Capital Gains Tax Acts, any loss accruing on any disposal shall not be deducted from a chargeable gain to which this section applies except a loss arising on a relevant planning decision.
(6)This section shall apply to relevant disposals made in the period beginning on 30 October 2009 and ending on 31 December 2014.
650.
Exclusion of certain disposals.
Sections 651 to 654 shall not apply to a relevant disposal made by an individual in any year of assessment if the total consideration in respect of all relevant disposals made by that individual in that year does not exceed €19,050.
651.
Restriction of indexation relief in relation to relevant disposals.
For the purposes of computing the chargeable gain accruing to a person on a relevant disposal, the adjustment of sums allowable as deductions from the consideration for the disposal which under section 556(2) would otherwise be made shall be made only to –
(a)such part of the amount or value of the consideration in money or money’s worth given by the person or on the person’s behalf wholly and exclusively for the acquisition of the asset, together with the incidental costs to the person of the acquisition, as is equal to the current use value of the asset at the date of the acquisition together with such proportion of the incidental costs to the person of the acquisition as would be referable to such value, or
(b)in the case of an asset to which section 556(3) applies, such part of the market value of the asset on the 6th day of April, 1974, as is equal to the current use value of the asset on that date.
652.
Non-application of reliefs on replacement of assets in case of relevant disposals.
(1)Consideration obtained for a relevant disposal shall not be regarded for the purposes of relief under section 597 as having been obtained for the disposal of old assets within the meaning of that section.
(2)
(a)In this subsection “the relevant local authority”, in relation to a relevant disposal, means the local authority for the purposes of the Local Government Act 2001 (as amended by the Local Government Reform Act 2014) in whose functional area the land being disposed of is situated.
(b)Subsection (1) shall not apply to a relevant disposal where the relevant local authority gives a certificate in writing to the person making the disposal stating that the land being disposed of is subject to a use which, on the basis of guidelines issued by the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, is inconsistent with the protection and improvement of the amenities of the general area within which that land is situated or is otherwise damaging to the local environment.
(3)
(a)In this subsection –
“assets of an authorised racecourse” means assets of a racecourse which is an authorised racecourse where the assets are used for the provision of appropriate facilities or services to carry on horseracing at race meetings or to accommodate persons associated with horseracing, including members of the public;
“authorised racecourse” has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Irish Horseracing Industry Act, 1994.
(b)Subject to paragraph (c), subsection (1) shall not apply to consideration obtained for a relevant disposal where –
(i)throughout a period of 5 years ending with the time of disposal the old assets, and
(ii)the new assets within the meaning of section 597,
are assets of an authorised racecourse.
(c)Section 597 shall apply in relation to assets of an authorised racecourse as if –
(i)references in subsection (4) and (5) of that section to new assets ceasing to be used for the purposes of a trade included a reference to new assets ceasing to be assets of an authorised racecourse, and
(ii)subsection (11)(b) had not been enacted.
(3A)
(a)In this subsection –
‘greyhound race’, ‘greyhound race track’ and ‘greyhound race track licence’ have the same meanings respectively as in section 2 of the Greyhound Industry Act, 1958;
‘assets of an authorised greyhound race track’ means assets of a greyhound race track which is an authorised greyhound race track where the assets are used for the provision of appropriate facilities or services to hold greyhound races or to accommodate persons associated with greyhound racing, including members of the public;
‘authorised greyhound race track’ means a greyhound race track in respect of which a greyhound race track licence has been granted, and that licence has not been revoked.
(b)Subject to paragraph (c), subsection (1) shall not apply to consideration obtained for a relevant disposal where –
(i)throughout a period of 5 years ending with the time of disposal the old assets, and
(ii)the new assets within the meaning of section 597,
are assets of an authorised greyhound race track.
(c)Section 597 shall apply in relation to assets of an authorised greyhound race track as if –
(i)references in subsections (4) and (5) of that section to new assets ceasing to be used for the purposes of a trade included a reference to new assets ceasing to be assets of an authorised greyhound race track, and
(ii)subsection (11)(b) had not been enacted.
(3B)Subsection (1) shall not apply to consideration obtained for a relevant disposal effected by an order made under section 28(1) of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority Act, 1997.
(4)Section 605 shall not apply to a relevant disposal.
(5)
(a)Subsection (4) shall not apply to a relevant disposal made to an authority possessing compulsory purchase powers where the disposal is made –
(i)for the purposes of enabling the authority to construct, widen or extend a road or part of a road, or
(ii)for a purpose connected with or ancillary to the construction, widening or extension of a road or part of a road by the authority.
(b)Where section 605 applies to a relevant disposal by virtue of this subsection that section shall be construed as if for subsection (4) of that section the following were substituted:
‘(4)This section shall apply only if the acquisition of the replacement assets takes place, or an unconditional contract for the acquisition is entered into, in the period beginning 2 years before and ending 8 years after the disposal of the original assets, or at such earlier or later time as the Revenue Commissioners may by notice in writing allow; but, where an unconditional contract for the acquisition is so entered into, this section may be applied on a provisional basis without ascertaining whether the replacement assets are acquired in pursuance of the contract, and when that fact is ascertained all necessary adjustments shall be made by making assessments or by repayment or discharge of tax, and shall be so made notwithstanding any limitation in the Capital Gains Tax Acts on the time within which assessments may be made or any limitation in section 865(4) on the time within which a claim for a repayment of tax is required to be made.’.
(6)Subsections (1) and (4) shall not apply to a relevant disposal made by a body of persons established for the sole purpose of promoting athletic or amateur games or sports, being a disposal which is made in relation to such of the activities of that body as are directed to that purpose.
653.
Restriction of relief for losses, etc. in relation to relevant disposals.
(1)Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in the Capital Gains Tax Acts, any losses accruing on disposals which are not relevant disposals shall not, in the computation of a person’s liability to capital gains tax in respect of chargeable gains accruing on relevant disposals, be deducted from the amount of those chargeable gains.
(2)In the computation of the amount on which under section 31 capital gains tax is to be charged on chargeable gains accruing on relevant disposals, any allowable losses accruing on relevant disposals may be deducted in accordance with that section but, in so far as they are so deducted, they shall not be treated as relevant allowable losses within the meaning of section 78(4) for the purposes of the calculation required to be made under section 78(2), and for the purposes of this subsection any necessary assessments may, as appropriate, be made or amended.