Finance Act , 1958

PART I. Income tax.

1 Income tax and sur-tax for the year 1958-59.

1.—(1) Income tax shall be charged for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1958, at the rate of seven shillings and sixpence in the pound.

(2) Sur-tax for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1958, shall be charged in respect of the income of any individual the total of which from all sources exceeds one thousand five hundred pounds and shall be so charged at the same rates as those at which it is charged for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1957.

(3) The several statutory and other provisions which were in force on the 5th day of April, 1958, in relation to income tax and sur-tax shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, have effect in relation to the income tax and sur-tax to be charged as aforesaid for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1958.

2 Market gardening.

2.—(1) In this section “market garden land” means land in the State occupied as a nursery or garden for the sale of the produce (other than land used for the growth of hops) and “market gardening” .shall be construed accordingly.

(2) Notwithstanding anything in Schedule B, or in the Rules applicable thereto, market gardening shall, for all the purposes of the Income Tax Acts in relation to the person by whom it is carried on, be treated as a trade and—

(a) the profits or gains thereof shall be charged under Case I of Schedule D, and

(b) income tax shall not be charged under Schedule B in respect of the occupation of market garden land,

but where land is market garden land for part only of the year of assessment, tax shall be charged under Schedule B on that land for that year on so much of the assessable value of that land as bears to that value the same proportion as the remainder of that year bears to one year.

(3) Where part of property valued under the Valuation Acts as a unit is market garden land—

(a) the annual value of the market garden land, for the purposes of Rule 5 of the Rules applicable to Cases I and II of Schedule D, shall be arrived at by apportionment of the rateable valuation of the property,

(b) the assessable value for the purposes of any assessment under Schedule B in respect of the remainder of the property shall be arrived at by apportionment of the amount which would have been the assessable value of the property, for the purposes of Schedule B, if no part thereof had been market garden land, and

(c) any apportionment required by this subsection shall be made by the inspector of taxes according to the best of his knowledge and judgment.

(4) An apportionment made under paragraph (c) of subsection (3) of this section may be amended by the Special Commissioners, or by the Circuit Judge, on the hearing, or the re-hearing, of an appeal against an assessment made on the basis of the apportionment, but, on the hearing, or the re-hearing, of any such appeal, a certificate of the Commissioner of Valuation tendered by either party to the appeal and certifying, as regards property valued under the Valuation Acts as a unit, the amount of the rateable valuation of the property attributable to any part of the property, shall be conclusive as to the amount so attributable.

(5) Where, for any year of assessment, tax under Case I of Schedule D in respect of the profits or gains of market gardening is chargeable on, or by reference to, the amount of the profits or gains of a year or period falling wholly or partly before the 6th day of April, 1958, that amount shall be computed as if subsection (1) of this section had had effect for the whole of that year or period.

3 Amendment of section 5 of Finance Act, 1929.

3.—The following subsections shall, with effect as from the commencement of section 5 of the Finance Act, 1929 (No. 32 of 1929), be substituted for subsections (2) and (3) of that section:—

“(2) (a) The Special Commissioners shall from time to time appoint times and places for the hearing of appeals against assessments and the Clerk to the Special Commissioners shall give notice of such times and places to the inspector of taxes or such other officer as aforesaid.

(b) The inspector of taxes or such other officer as aforesaid shall give notice in writing to each person who has given notice of appeal of the time and place appointed for the hearing of his appeal, but—

(i) notice under this paragraph shall not be given in a case in which paragraph (b) of subsection (3) of this section has effect either consequent upon an agreement referred to in that paragraph or consequent upon a notice referred to in paragraph (d) of that subsection, and

(ii) in a case in which it appears to the inspector or other officer that an appeal may be settled by agreement under subsection (3) of this section, he may refrain from giving notice under this paragraph or may by notice in writing withdraw a notice already given.

(3) (a) This subsection applies to any assessment in respect of which notice of appeal has been given, not being an assessment the appeal against which has been determined by the Special Commissioners or which has become final and conclusive under subsection (6) of this section.

(b) Where, in relation to an assessment to which this subsection applies, the inspector of taxes or such other officer as aforesaid and the appellant come to an agreement, whether in writing or otherwise, that the assessment is to stand good, is to be amended in a particular manner or is to be discharged or cancelled, the inspector or other officer shall give effect to the agreement and thereupon, if the agreement is that the assessment is to stand good or is to be amended, the assessment or the amended assessment, as the case may be, shall have the same force and effect as if it were an assessment in respect of which no notice of appeal had been given.

(c) An agreement which is not in writing shall be deemed not to be an agreement for the purposes of paragraph (b) of this subsection unless—

(i) the fact that an agreement was come to, and the terms agreed upon, are confirmed by notice in writing given by the inspector of taxes or such other officer as aforesaid to the appellant or by the appellant to the inspector or other officer, and

(ii) twenty-one days have elapsed since the giving of that notice without the person to whom it was given giving notice in writing to the person by whom it was given that he desires to repudiate or withdraw from the agreement.

(d) Where an appellant gives notice in writing to the inspector of taxes or such other officer as aforesaid that he desires not to proceed with his appeal against an assessment to which this subsection applies, paragraph (b) of this subsection shall have effect as if the appellant and the inspector or other officer had, on the appellant's notice being received, come to an agreement in writing that the assessment should stand good.

(e) The references in this subsection to an agreement being come to with an appellant and the giving of notice to or by an appellant include references to an agreement being come to with, and the giving of notice to or by, a person acting on behalf of the appellant in relation to the appeal.”

4 Evidence in certain cases.

4.—(1) Statements made or documents produced by or on behalf of a person shall not be inadmissible in any such proceedings as are mentioned in subsection (2) of this section by reason only that it has been drawn to his attention that—

(a) in relation to income tax or sur-tax, the Revenue Commissioners may accept pecuniary settlements instead of instituting proceedings, and

(b) though no undertaking can be given as to whether or not the Revenue Commissioners will accept such a settlement in the case of any particular person, it is the practice of the Revenue Commissioners to be influenced by the fact that a person has made a full confession of any fraud or default to which he has been a party, and has given full facilities for investigation,

and that he was or may have been induced thereby to make the statements or produce the documents.

(2) The proceedings referred to in subsection (1) of this section are:

(a) any criminal proceedings against the person in question for any form of fraud or wilful default in connection with or in relation to income tax or sur-tax; and

(b) any proceedings against him for the recovery of any sum due from him, whether by way of tax, fine, forfeiture or penalty, in connection with or in relation to income tax or sur-tax.

5 Notices.

5.—(1) Any notice which under the Income Tax Acts is authorised or required to be given by the Revenue Commissioners or an inspector of taxes or other officer of the Revenue Commissioners may be served by post.

(2) Any notice which under the Income Tax Acts is authorised or required to be given by the Revenue Commissioners may be signed and given by an officer of the Revenue Commissioners authorised by them for the purpose of giving notices of the class to which the notice belongs and, if so signed and given, shall be as valid and effectual as if signed under the hands of the Revenue Commissioners and given by them.

(3) Prima facie evidence of any notice given under the Income Tax Acts by the Revenue Commissioners or an inspector of taxes or other officer of the Revenue Commissioners may be given in any proceedings by production of a document purporting to be a copy of the notice, and it shall not be necessary to prove the official positions or position of the persons or person by whom the notice purports to be given or, if it is signed, the signatures or signature or that the persons or person signing and giving it were or was authorised so to do.

(4) This section shall have effect notwithstanding any other provision of the Income Tax Acts.

(5) This section shall come into operation on the passing of this Act, but as well as applying to notices given after such passing, it shall also apply, and be deemed always to have applied, to notices given before such passing.

6 Information as to payments to employees.

6.—(1) In section 105 of the Income Tax Act, 1918, the references to payments made to persons in respect of their employment and to the remuneration of persons in their employment shall be deemed to include references—

(a) to any payments made after the 5th day of April, 1958, to employed persons in respect of expenses,

(b) to any payments made after that day on behalf of employed persons and not repaid, and

(c) to any payments made after that day to the employees in a trade or business for services rendered in connection with the trade or business, whether the services were rendered in the course of their employment or not.

(2) The reference in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section to payments made to employed persons in respect of expenses includes a reference to sums put at the disposal of an employed person and paid away by him.

7 Amendment of section 3 of Finance Act, 1925.

7.—Section 3 of the Finance Act, 1925 (No. 28 of 1925), is hereby amended by the substitution in subsection (2) (inserted by section 7 of the Finance Act, 1954 (No. 22 of 1954)) of “Army Pensions Acts, 1923 to 1957, or those Acts and any subsequent Act together with which those Acts may be cited” for “Army Pensions Acts, 1923 to 1953”.

8 General rule as to tax on husbands and wives.

8.—(1) Subject to sections 9, 10, 11, and 12 of this Act, a woman's income chargeable to tax shall, so far as it is income for a year of assessment or part of a year of assessment during which she is a married woman living with her husband, be deemed for income tax (including sur-tax) purposes to be his income and not to be her income, but the question whether there is any income of hers chargeable to tax for any year of assessment and, if so, what is to be taken to be the amount thereof for tax purposes shall not be affected by the provisions of this subsection.

(2) Any tax falling to be assessed in respect of any income which, under subsection (1) of this section, is to be deemed to be the income of a woman's husband shall, instead of being assessed on her, or on her trustee, guardian, curator or committee, or on her executors or administrators, be assessable on him or, in the appropriate cases, on his trustee, guardian, curator or committee, or on his executors or administrators, but nothing in this subsection shall affect the operation of Rule 10 of the Rules applicable to Cases I and II of Schedule D.

(3) References in this section to a woman's income include references to any sum which, apart from this section, would fall to be included in computing her total income, and this subsection has effect in relation to any such sum notwithstanding that some enactment (including, except so far as the contrary is expressly provided, an enactment passed after the passing of this Act) requires that that sum should not be treated as income of any person other than her.

(4) This section has effect subject to Rule 17 of the General Rules and section 8 of the Income Tax Act, 1918.

9 Consequences, as respects personal allowances, of exercise of option by husband or wife for separate assessment.

9.—(1) This section shall have effect as respects personal reliefs where, by virtue of an application under Rule 17 of the General Rules, income tax for any year is to be assessable and chargeable on the incomes of a husband and a wife as if they were not married.

(2) The total relief from tax given to the husband and the wife by way of personal reliefs shall be the same as if the application had not had effect with respect to the year and, subject to subsection (3) of this section, the benefit flowing from the personal reliefs may be given either by way of reduction of the amount of the tax to be paid, or by repayment of any excess of tax which has been paid, or by both of these means, as the case requires, and shall be allocated to the husband and the wife—

(a) so far as it flows from relief under section 32 of the Income Tax Act, 1918, to the husband or the wife according as he or she made the payment giving rise to the relief.

(b) so far as it flows from relief under section 16 of the Finance Act, 1920, in proportion to the amounts of their respective earned incomes,

(c) so far as it flows from relief in respect of a dependent relative under section 22 of the Finance Act, 1920, or relief in respect of a child under subsection (2) of section 21 of that Act, to the husband or the wife according as he or she maintains the relative or child,

(d) so far as it flows from relief under section 4 of the Finance Act, 1951 (No. 15 of 1951), in proportion to the amounts of their respective total incomes, and

(e) as to the balance, in proportion to the amounts of their respective assessable incomes,

(3) Where the amount of relief allocated to the husband under subsection (2) of this section exceeds the income tax chargeable on the income of the husband for the year of assessment, the balance shall be applied to reduce the income tax chargeable on the income of the wife for that year, and where the amount of relief allocated to the wife under that subsection exceeds the income tax chargeable on her income for the year of assessment, the balance shall be applied to reduce the income tax chargeable on the income of the husband for that year.

(4) Returns of the total incomes of the husband and the wife may be made for the purposes of this section either by the husband or by the wife but, if the Revenue Commissioners are not satisfied with any such return, they may obtain a return from the wife or the husband, as the case may be.

(5) The Revenue Commissioners may by notice require returns for the purposes of this section to be made at any time, and the provisions of the Income Tax Acts relating to penalties for neglect or refusal to deliver, or for delay in delivering, true and correct statements of profits or gains shall, with the necessary modifications, apply in the case of the neglect or refusal to make, or wilful delay in making, any such return.

(6) In this section “personal reliefs” means any relief under section 32 of the Income Tax Act, 1918, under sections 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 of the Finance Act, 1920, under section 4 of the Finance Act, 1951 (No. 15 of 1951), or under section 3 of the Finance Act, 1954 (No. 22 of 1954).

10 Collection from wife of tax assessed on husband attributable to her income.

10.—(1) Where—

(a) an assessment to income tax or sur-tax (hereafter in this section referred to as the original assessment) has been made for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1958, or any subsequent year of assessment on a man, or on a man's trustee, guardian, curator or committee, or on a man's executors or administrators,

(b) the Revenue Commissioners, in the case of an assessment to income tax, or the Special Commissioners, in the case of an assessment to sur-tax, are of opinion that, if an application for separate assessment under Rule 17 of the General Rules or under section 8 of the Income Tax Act, 1918, had been in force with respect to that year of assessment, an assessment in respect of, or of part of, the same income would have fallen to be made on, or on the trustee, guardian, curator or committee of, or on the executors or administrators of, a woman who is the said man's wife or was his wife in that year of assessment, and

(c) the whole or part of the amount payable under the original assessment has remained unpaid at the expiration of twenty-eight days from the time when it became due,

the Revenue Commissioners, or, as the case may be, the Special Commissioners, may give to her, or, if she is dead, to her executors or administrators, or, if such an assessment as is referred to in paragraph (b) of this subsection could, in the event therein referred to, have been made on her trustee, guardian, curator, or committee, to her or to her trustee, guardian, curator, or committee, a notice—

(i) stating particulars of the original assessment and of the amount remaining unpaid thereunder, and

(ii) stating particulars, to the best of their judgment, of the assessment which would have fallen to be made as aforesaid,

and requiring the person to whom the notice is given to pay the amount which would have been payable under the last-mentioned assessment if it conformed with those particulars, or the amount remaining unpaid under the original assessment, whichever is the less.

(2) The same consequences as respects—

(a) the imposition of a liability to pay, and the recovery of, the tax,

(b) priority for the tax in bankruptcy or in the administration of the estate of a deceased person,

(c) appeals to the Special Commissioners, the re-hearing of such appeals and the stating of cases for the opinion of the High Court, and

(d) the ultimate incidence of the liability imposed,