Finance Act , 1923

1 Income tax and super-tax for 1923-24.

1.—(1) Income tax shall be charged for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1923, at the rate of five shillings in the pound, and super-tax shall be charged for that year at the same rates as those at which it was charged for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1922, under the law then in force in Saorstát Eireann or in the area now comprised therein.

(2) The several statutory and other provisions which were in force in Saorstát Eireann or in the area now comprised therein during the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1922, in relation to income tax and super-tax shall, subject to the adaptations and modifications made or to be made in such provisions by or under the Adaptation of Enactments Act, 1922 (No. 2 of 1922), and subject to the provisions of the Double Taxation (Relief) Act, 1923 (No. 8 of 1923), and subject to the provisions of this Act, have effect in relation to the income tax and super-tax to be charged as aforesaid for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1923.

(3) The annual value of any property which has been adopted for the purpose of income tax under Schedules A and B for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1922, shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be taken as the annual value of that property for the same purpose for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1923.

2 Adjustment of super-tax in certain cases.

2.—(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 5 of the Income Tax Act, 1918, the Special Commissioners may, on application made by any person chargeable with super-tax for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1923, make such an adjustment, by repayment of tax or otherwise, as will reduce the amount of super-tax payable by that person for that year to the amount which would have been payable if the provisions of this Act had had the force of law during the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1922, and the adaptations of the Income Tax Acts made by the Adaptation of Enactments Act, 1922 (No. 2 of 1922), or by any Order made or hereafter to be made by the Executive Council under the provisions of that Act, had had full force and effect with reference to income tax for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1922.

(2) The provisions of the Income Tax Acts relating to the statement of a case on a point of law shall apply to applications for adjustment of super-tax under this section.

3 Exemption of interest on savings certificates from income tax.

3.—If the Minister for Finance shall issue any savings certificate under which the purchaser, by virtue of an immediate payment of a specified sum, becomes entitled after a specified period to receive a larger sum consisting of the said sum originally paid and accumulated interest thereon, such accumulated interest shall not be liable to income tax so long as the amount of such certificates held by the person who is for the time being the holder of the certificate does not exceed the amount which such person is for the time being authorised to hold under regulations made by the Minister for Finance.

4 Income tax to be charged on British Government Stock issued free of tax.

4.—Notwithstanding any provision contained in any Act of the Parliament of the late United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the interest on all securities issued by the Government of the United Kingdom aforesaid subject to the condition that the interest thereon should be exempt from income tax, shall as and from the first day of October, 1923, be liable to the income tax for the time being charged in Saorstát Eireann, but subject to any arrangement for relief which may for the time being exist with the Government of Great Britain under or by virtue of the Double Taxation (Relief) Act, 1923 (No. 8 of 1923), or otherwise.

5 Amendment of Section 187 of Income Tax Act 1918.

5.—(1) In sub-section 1 of Section 187 of the Income Tax Act, 1918, the expression “purchase annuity” shall mean the first or original annuity payable before any redemption or statutory reduction.

(2) In sub-section 1 of Section 187 of the Income Tax Act, 1918, the words “the respective surveys and valuations from time to time in force for the purposes of poor rates” shall not apply to the annual value of concerns contained in No. III. of Schedule A, and such concerns shall, for the purposes of Schedule A, be assessed and charged under Schedule D in accordance with the rules applicable to Schedule D so far as the same are not inconsistent with the rules of the said No. III. of Schedule A.

6 Duty of employer in relation to tax payable by his employees.

6.—(1) Where any employed person has omitted to make payment of any income tax under Schedule D or E due and payable by him for any year, the Revenue Commissioners may give notice to the employer of such person at any time after a period of three months has elapsed since such income tax became due and payable, requiring such employer to deduct the amount of income tax so in arrear from any remuneration payable by him to such employed person.

(2) On receipt of such notice the employer shall deduct such sum or sums, not exceeding in the aggregate the total amount of income tax so in arrear, at such times, and in such manner, as the Revenue Commissioners may direct and shall forthwith pay over the amounts so deducted to the Accountant General of Revenue.

(3) If any employer refuses or neglects to pay over to the Accountant General of Revenue any such sum or sums within the time specified in such notice, such employer shall be liable to pay such sum or sums as if the same had been duly assessed upon him, and proceedings for the recovery thereof may be taken in any manner prescribed by the Income Tax Act, 1918, including the issue by the Special Commissioners of their warrant to the Collector in whose Collection the business premises or property of the said employer are situated, requiring him to distrain the said employer by his goods and chattels, and failure on the part of the employer to deduct any such sum or sums from the employed person shall not be any bar to the recovery of such sum or sums by proceedings or distraint.

(4) Any employer who neglects or refuses to comply with the provisions of this section shall be liable to the penalty imposed by section 107 of the Income Tax Act, 1918, upon a person who neglects or refuses to deliver a list, declaration or statement, and such penalty shall be recoverable without prejudice to any other remedy provided by the Income Tax Act, 1918, or this Act.

(5) Where the employer is a body of persons the provisions of sub-sections 2 and 4 of section 105 and the whole of section 106 of the Income Tax Act, 1918, shall apply in relation to anything required to be done under this Act.

(6) Nothing in this section shall affect the provisions of Rule 11, Schedule E, of the Income Tax Act, 1918, or of Rule 7, Schedule E, of the same Act, as amended by Section 18 (3) of the Finance Act, 1922.

(7) An employer who pays over to the Accountant General or to the Collector in whose Collection his business premises or property are situated, any such sum of income tax as is required by any such notice from the Revenue Commissioners as aforesaid, shall be acquitted and discharged of so much money as is represented by such payment as if that sum of money had actually been paid as remuneration to the employed person.

7 Recovery of income tax.

7.—(1) Whenever any person (in this section called a “defaulter”) makes default in paying any sum which may be levied upon him in respect of income tax, and notwithstanding (in the case of a Schedule A assessment) that the defaulter is not named in the assessment of the tax, the Collector by whom the sum so in default is collectable may issue a certificate to the Under-Sheriff of the County in which the defaulter resides or has a place of business or (when the tax in default is charged on lands or tenements) in which the lands and tenements are situate, certifying the amount of the sum so in default and the person upon whom the same is leviable and the lands and tenements (if any) on which the sum is charged.

(2) Immediately upon receipt of any such certificate as is mentioned in the foregoing sub-section, the Under-Sheriff shall proceed to levy the sum therein certified to be in default by seizing all or any of the goods, animals and other chattels within his bailiwick belonging to the defaulter and (when the tax in default is charged on lands or tenements) all or any goods, animals and other chattels which may be found on such lands or tenements, and for such purposes the Under-Sheriff shall (in addition to the rights, powers and duties conferred on him by this section) have all such rights, powers and duties as are for the time being vested in him by law in relation to the execution of a writ of fieri facias so far as the same are not inconsistent with the additional rights, powers and duties conferred on him by this section.

(3) It shall be the duty of the bailiff or other person employed by an Under-Sheriff to levy execution under any such certificate as is mentioned in this section, immediately upon entry and before seizure, to produce on demand to the defaulter or other the person in apparent possession of the lands and premises upon which such bailiff or other person shall enter, the warrant of this authority from the Under-Sheriff, and on the like demand to deliver a true copy thereof to the defaulter or other person in such apparent possession as aforesaid.

(4) It shall be the duty of every Under-Sheriff under whose authority execution shall be levied upon goods, animals, or other chattels under any such certificate as aforesaid to cause an itemised inventory of the chattels seized to be made out within forty-eight hours of seizure and, if practicable, before any removal, to cause to be furnished to the defaulter or other the person in apparent possession of such chattels a duplicate of such inventory signed by the Under-Sheriff or by a person acting on his behalf.

(5) It shall be lawful for any Under-Sheriff who shall take any goods, animals or other chattels in execution under any such certificate as aforesaid to sell by public auction such goods, animals or other chattels at any time after the expiration of a period of twenty-four hours after he shall have taken the same in execution, but so that he shall not allow any unreasonable delay to occur, and it shall not be necessary for the Under-Sheriff to publish or announce that any such sale is a sale by an Under-Sheriff or is a sale of goods, animals or chattels taken in execution.

(6) Any Under-Sheriff who shall have taken goods, animals or other chattels in execution under any such certificate as aforesaid may sell such goods, animals and chattels by public auction at such place or places, whether within or outside his bailiwick, and whether within or outside the territorial boundaries of Saorstát Eireann in which in his opinion such goods, animals and chattels can be sold to the best advantage, and may remove such goods, animals and chattels or any of them or cause same to be removed from the place where same were seized to such place or places of sale.

(7) All goods, animals and other chattels taken in execution by any Under-Sheriff under any such certificate as aforesaid may, pending the sale thereof, be impounded, stored and kept by the Under-Sheriff in such place or places whether within or outside his bailiwick and whether within or outside the territorial boundaries of Saorstát Eireann as he shall think fit, and notwithstanding that such place or places is or are not appointed or authorised by law to be used as pounds.

(8) Wherever any goods, animals or other chattels shall be removed under this section by or by order of the Under-Sheriff to any place outside his bailiwick, the Under-Sheriff shall in addition to the amount of the tax stated in the certificate under which such goods, animals and chattels were seized and of all other charges leviable under or by virtue of this section, levy for the amount of all costs incurred by him—

(a) in or about the removal of such goods, animals and chattels from the places at which they were seized to every place (including the place of sale) to which such goods, animals and chattels are removed before the sale thereof;

(b) in or about the storing, impounding and preservation of such goods, animals and chattels (including the feeding and watering of such animals) between the time of seizure and the time of sale;

(c) in or about the sale and any attempted sale of such goods, animals or chattels other than a sale or attempted sale within the bailiwick of the Under-Sheriff.

All such costs and expenses as are mentioned in this sub-section may be deducted by the Under-Sheriff from the proceeds of the sale of the goods, animals and chattels as a first charge thereon.

(9) The Under-Sheriff shall be sole judge of the place or places at which any goods, animals or other chattels taken in execution by him can be sold to the best advantage and no action shall lie against any Under-Sheriff on account of his having sold any such goods, animals or chattels as aforesaid outside his bailiwick.

(10) Every person who after the passing of this Act shall in good faith purchase at a sale held by or under the authority of an Under-Sheriff any goods, animals or other chattels taken in execution by such Under-Sheriff under any such certificate as aforesaid, shall acquire a good title valid against all persons to the goods, animals and chattels so purchased notwithstanding any invalidity or irregularity in or about the seizure or sale of such goods, animals or chattels, and whether he knows or ought or could have known or is affected with any kind of notice that the sale is a sale by or under the authority of an Under-Sheriff or not.

(11) The power and authority of an Under-Sheriff to sell any goods, animals or other chattels taken in execution by him under any such certificate as aforesaid shall not be prejudiced or affected by reason of such goods, animals or chattels having been out of the custody of the Under-Sheriff or by reason of his custody thereof having been by any means interrupted at any time or times between the time of the seizure and the time of the actual sale of such goods, animals or chattels.

(12) No action shall lie against an Under-Sheriff for or on account of his having entered or broken into any lands, house, close or other premises for the purpose of taking into execution under any such certificate as aforesaid any goods, animals or other chattels which were or might be on or in such lands, house, close or premises, or for or on account of any injury occasioned to such lands, house or premises by or in the course of such entry or breaking in: Provided always that before breaking into any dwelling house or other building the Under-Sheriff shall have made reasonable efforts to enter peaceably and without violence: Provided also that in any case where the Under-Sheriff shall break and enter the premises of a person other than the defaulter named in the certificate, he shall either have found some goods, animals or other chattels of the defaulter therein or thereon or shall have had reasonable grounds for believing that there were some such goods, animals or chattels therein or thereon.

(13) No action shall lie against, and no penalty shall be incurred by, any Under-Sheriff in the absence of fraud, malice or gross negligence, for or on account of his having seized or sold under any such certificate as aforesaid more or less goods, animals or other chattels than would or might be sufficient or meet the full amount of the tax stated in such certificate and all fees, charges and expenses leviable under or by virtue of such certificate.

(14) Sub-sections (3) to (13) inclusive of this section shall only apply to any such certificate as aforesaid which relates to Income Tax for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1923, or any previous year.

8 Certain interest, dividends and annuities, may be charged under Schedule D.

8.—(1) Where any interest, dividends, annuities or shares of annuities to which this section applies or the profits attached to any such interest, dividends or annuities fall to be charged under the Rules of Schedule C of the Income Tax Act, 1918, but are in fact not assessed for any year under that Schedule, such interest, dividends, annuities, shares of annuities or profits may be charged and assessed on and shall be payable by the person entitled to receive such interest, dividends, or other annual payments for that year under the appropriate Case of Schedule D.

(2) This section applies to all interest, dividends, annuities and shares of annuities payable out of any public revenue of Saorstát Eireann or out of any public revenue of Great Britain or of Northern Ireland or of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

9 Exemption of Income of Charities in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

9.—Exemption shall be granted—

(a) from tax for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1923, under Schedule A of the Income Tax Act, 1918, in respect of the rents and profits of any land, tenements, hereditaments, or heritages belonging to any hospital, public school or almshouse, in Great Britain or Northern Ireland, or vested in trustees in Great Britain or Northern Ireland for charitable purposes, so far as the same are applied to charitable purposes only;

Provided that any assessment upon the respective properties shall not be vacated or altered, but shall be in force and levied, notwithstanding the allowance of any such exemption;

(b) from tax for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1923, under Schedule C of the Income Tax Act, 1918, in respect of any interest, annuities, dividends or shares of annuities, and from tax for the same year under Schedule D of the same Act, in respect of any yearly interest or other annual payment, forming part of the income of any body of persons or trust in Great Britain or Northern Ireland for charitable purposes only, or which, according to the rules or regulations established by Act of Parliament, charter, decree, deed of trust, or will in Great Britain or Northern Ireland are applicable to charitable purposes only; and so far as the same are applied to charitable purposes only.

(c) from tax for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1923, under Schedule C of the Income Tax Act, 1918, in respect of any interest, annuities, dividends or shares of annuities, in (the names of trustees in Great Britain or Northern Ireland, and applicable solely towards the repairs of any cathedral, college, church, or chapel, or any building used solely for the purpose of divine worship, and so far as the same are applied to those purposes:

Provided that this Section shall only apply where the lands, tenements, hereditaments, or heritages aforesaid belonged to such hospital, public school, or almshouse, or were vested in such trustees, on the 5th day of April, 1923, or where the interest, annuities, dividends, shares of annuities, yearly interest or other annual payments arise from investments or other property which were held by such body of persons, trust or trustees, or were subject to such rules or regulations, on the 5th day of April, 1923.

10 Tax on Income from foreign dividends.