LegalizeReform history
National Training Fund Act 2000
2 versions
· 2000-12-20
2026-01-19
IE-2000-act-41 — consolidated version 2026-01-19
Changes on 2026-01-19
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# National Training Fund Act 2000
##### 1 Interpretation.
##### 1. **Interpretation.**
**1.**—(1) In this Act—
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“Collector-General” means the Collector-General appointed under section 851 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997;
F1["contribution week" has the same meaning as it has in theSocial Welfare Consolidation Act 2005;]
“contribution year” means a year of assessment within the meaning of the Income Tax Acts;
“employed contributor” means an employed contributor, within the meaning of the Act of 1993, other than a person to whom—
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(*c*) a reference to any enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended, adapted or extended by or under any subsequent enactment.
##### 2 National Training Fund.
##### 2. **National Training Fund.**
**2.**—(1) There shall stand established, on commencement of this section, a fund which shall be known as the National Training Fund and in this Act is referred to as the “Fund”.
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(14) Accounts of the Fund shall be prepared on an annual basis, in such form and in such manner as the Minister for Finance may direct, and the Comptroller and Auditor General shall examine and certify every such account and a copy thereof, together with the report thereon of the Comptroller and Auditor General, shall be laid by the Minister before each House of the Oireachtas.
##### 3 Levy.
**3.**—Subject to and in accordance with the provisions of this Act, there is, by virtue of this section, imposed upon, and there shall be payable in respect of every contribution year by, every employer in respect of every employed contributor who is employed by the employer during any period in the contribution year a levy (which shall be known as the “National Training Fund Levy” and in this Act is referred to as the “levy”).
##### 4 Rate of levy and supplemental provisions.
**4.**—(1) Where in a contribution year a payment is made to or for the benefit of an employed contributor in respect of reckonable earnings of that employed contributor, levy shall be payable at the rate of 0.7 per cent. of the amount of those reckonable earnings which that payment comprises.
##### 3. **F2[Levy.**
**3.**—Subject to and in accordance with the provisions of this Act, there is, by virtue of this section, imposed upon, and there shall be payable by, every employer in respect of every employed contributor who is employed by the employer a levy (which shall be known as the "National Training Fund Levy" and in this Act is referred to as the "levy").]
##### 4. **Rate of levy and supplemental provisions.**
**4.**—F3[(1) Where in any contribution week a payment is made to or for the benefit of an employed contributor in respect of reckonable earnings of that employed contributor, a levy shall be payable by the employed contributor’s employer at the rate of 1.0 per cent of the amount of the reckonable earnings in that week to which that payment relates.]
(2) Nothing in *subsection (1)* or any other provision of this Act shall be construed as requiring levy to be paid in relation to a payment of the kind referred to in *subsection (1)* that is made before the commencement of this Act.
(3) An employer shall not deduct from the reckonable earnings of an employed contributor or recover from such contributor any sum in respect of levy paid or payable under this Act.
(4) Where, but for this subsection, levy would be payable in respect of an employed contributor under this Act in a contribution year, then if in that year no employment contribution is payable pursuant to the Social Welfare (Employers Pay-Related Social Insurance Exemption Scheme) Regulations, 1996 (S.I. No. 145 of 1996), in respect of that contributor, the levy shall not be payable.
(5) Where in a particular contribution year an employed contributor's reckonable earnings have amounted to the sum specified in section 10(1)(*e*) of the Act of 1993 and the levy payable under this Act has been paid in respect of these reckonable earnings, no further such levy shall be payable in respect of any reckonable earnings of that employed contributor by his or her employer in that contribution year.
(6) Where in a particular contribution year an employed contributor is employed by 2 or more employers concurrently (within the meaning of regulations under section 13 of the Act of 1993), *subsection (5)* shall, in relation to the levy, apply to the reckonable earnings from each of the employments separately.
(7) For the purposes of the application of *subsections (5)* and *(6)* in relation to the contribution year during which this Act is commenced, but only for the purposes of that application, there shall be deemed to have been paid in respect of the reckonable earnings of the employed contributor concerned in so much of that year as falls before that commencement, the levy that would have been paid in respect of those earnings if this Act had been in operation at the commencement of that year.
F4[(4) Where, but for this subsection, levy would be payable in respect of an employed contributor under this Act, then if no employment contribution is payable during any period of exemption by virtue of a scheme provided for under regulations made pursuant to section 13(9) of theSocial Welfare Consolidation Act 2005and known as the Employers’Pay-Related Social Insurance Exemption Scheme, in respect of that contributor, levy shall not be payable during that period.]
(5) F5[…]
(6) F5[…]
(7) F5[…]
(8) Regulations for the time being in force under section 29A of the Act of 1993 shall apply in relation to levy as they apply in relation to employment contributions.
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(12) Moneys held on the commencement of this Act by Foras Áiseanna Saothair for and on account of the levy imposed pursuant to section 21 of the Industrial Training Act, 1967, shall be paid by it, forthwith after such commencement, into the Fund.
##### 5 Collection of levy.
**5.**—(1) Where income tax falls due for collection pursuant to Part 42 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, in respect of an employed contributor, other than a special contributor, any levy payable in respect of the contributor by his or her employer shall be paid by the employer to the Collector-General.
F6[(13) For the purposes of this section—
"payment" includes a notional payment;
F7["notional payment" has the meaning assigned to it by section 985A (as inserted bysection 6 of the Finance Act 2003) ofthe Taxes Consolidation Act 1997.]
F8[…]]
F9[(14) Where, for a year of assessment (within the meaning of the Tax Acts), the Revenue Commissioners and an employer enter into an agreement under a specified provision ofthe Taxes Consolidation Act 1997whereby the employer will account to the Revenue Commissioners, in accordance with that provision, in respect of the income tax due on qualifying emoluments (within the meaning of that provision) and where that agreement is not null and void, then, in respect of those qualifying emoluments, the employer as part of that agreement, shall make a payment in respect of reckonable earnings equal to 0.7 per cent of the aggregate of the amount of those qualifying reckonable earnings and the amount of income tax payable under the agreement in respect of them.
(15) In*subsection (14)*"specified provision" means such provision as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Minister for the purposes of that subsection.]
##### 5. **Collection of levy.**
**5.**—(1) Where income tax falls due for collection pursuant to F10[Chapter 4 of Part 42] of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, in respect of an employed contributor, other than a special contributor, any levy payable in respect of the contributor by his or her employer shall be paid by the employer to the Collector-General.
(2) Where the employed contributor is a special contributor, any levy payable in respect of the contributor by his or her employer shall be paid by the employer to the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs.
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“6B.—The Minister shall make payments out of the Social Insurance Fund into the National Training Fund equalling those paid into the first-mentioned fund pursuant to *subsections (3)* and *(4)* of *section 5* of the *National Training Fund Act, 2000*.”.
(6) The provisions of any enactment relating to the inspection of records, or the estimation, collection and recovery of, or the furnishing of information in relation to, income tax or employment contributions shall, with any necessary modifications, apply in relation to levy required to be collected by the Collector-General or the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs as they apply in relation to income tax or employment contributions.
F11[(6) The provisions of any enactment, regulation or rule of court relating to the inspection of records, the estimation, collection and recovery (including the provisions relating to the offset of taxes and appropriation of payments in Chapter 5 of Part 42 ofthe Taxes Consolidation Act 1997) of income tax, or relating to appeals in relation to income tax, or the publication of names of persons undersection 1086 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, shall apply in relation to the National Training Fund Levy which the Collector-General is obliged to collect as if the said levy were an amount of income tax which the employer was liable to remit.]
(7) In proceedings instituted by virtue of this Act, a certificate purporting to be signed by or on behalf of, in the case of moneys due pursuant to *subsection (1)*, the Collector-General or, in the case of moneys due pursuant to *subsection (2)*, the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, which states that a specified amount is due and payable by the defendant in respect of levy shall be evidence, until the contrary is proved, that the amount is so due and payable in respect of levy and the certificate shall be deemed, until the contrary is proved, to have been signed by or on behalf of the Collector-General or the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, as appropriate.
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(12) *Subsection (11)* shall be construed so as to apply to an arranging debtor in the same manner as it applies to a bankrupt and, accordingly, the reference in that subsection to the period of 12 months before the date of the order of adjudication shall be construed as a reference to the period of 12 months before the date of the presenting of the petition for protection.
##### 6 Supply of information by the Revenue Commissioners.
##### 6. **Supply of information by the Revenue Commissioners.**
**6.**—So far as may be necessary for the proper administration of this Act, information regarding levy and reckonable earnings of employed contributors in respect of whom levy is payable by their employers which is obtained by the Revenue Commissioners in connection with the collection of income tax or levy may be supplied by them to any person having obligations imposed by any enactment in relation to the collection and recovery of levy or the management or control of the Fund.
##### 7 Payments from the Fund.
##### 7. **Payments from the Fund.**
**7.**—(1) Whenever and so often as the Minister considers that it is appropriate that payments be made from the Fund in respect of a scheme referred to in *subsection (2)*, the Minister may make payments from the Fund for that purpose of such amounts as are determined by him or her with the consent of the Minister for Finance.
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(*c*) to provide information in relation to existing, or likely future, requirements for skills in the economy.
F12[(2A) The Minister may, for any purpose specified in subsection (1) and with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, make payments to An tSeirbhís, and any payments so made shall be expended by An tSeirbhís for that purpose only.]
F13[(2B) Without prejudice to the generality of*subsection (1)*, payments for any purpose specified in*subsection (1)*may include payments for the following:
(*a*) the acquisition of lands, premises, furniture or equipment;
(*b*) the upgrading, construction or reconstruction, including repair and maintenance, of premises.]
(3) The consent of the Minister for Finance under *subsection (1)* may be given in relation to amounts to be paid from the Fund in particular periods or by reference to the particular scheme referred to in *subsection (2)* in respect of which payments from the Fund are to be made.
(4) An amount to be paid from the Fund in respect of a scheme shall be so paid to the person or, as the case may be, one or more of the persons administering the scheme.
(5) With respect to the performance generally by the Minister of his or her functions under this section, the Minister shall, from time to time, consult with such representatives of employees and such representatives of employers as he or she considers appropriate.
##### 8 Offences and penalties.
##### 8. **Offences and penalties.**
**8.**—(1) An employer or the agent of an employer who does not pay levy which is due and payable under *section 3* shall be guilty of an offence.
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(6) Where an offence under this Act is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent, connivance or approval of or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of a person being a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate, or any other person who was acting or purporting to act in any such capacity, that person as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he or she were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.
##### 9 Repeals.
##### 9. **Repeals.**
**9.**—The enactments mentioned in *column (2)* of the *Schedule* are repealed to the extent mentioned in *column (3)* of that Schedule.
##### 10 Expenses.
##### 10. **Expenses.**
**10.**—(1) The expenses incurred by any Minister of the Government (other than the Minister for Finance) or the Revenue Commissioners in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.
(2) The expenses incurred by the Minister for Finance in the administration of this Act shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.
##### 11 Short title and commencement.
##### 11. **Short title and commencement.**
**11.**—(1) This Act may be cited as the National Training Fund Act, 2000.
(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day as the Minister may appoint by order.
## **SCHEDULE**
| Number and Year | Short Title | Extent of Repeal |
| --- | --- | --- |
| (1) | (2) | (3) |
| No. 5 of 1967 | Industrial Training Act, 1967 | Sections 19(3), 21, 24, 25, 27(2) and the Second Schedule. |
| No. 3 of 1994 | Industrial Training (Apprenticeship Levy) Act, 1994 | The whole Act. |
2000-12-20
National Training Fund Act 2000
original version
Text at this date