Finance Act 2004

PART 1 Income Tax, Corporation Tax and Capital Gains Tax

Chapter 1 Interpretation

1 Interpretation (Part 1)

1.—In this Part “Principal Act” means the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997.

Chapter 2 Income Tax

2 Age exemption.

2.—As respects the year of assessment 2004 and subsequent years of assessment, section 188 of the Principal Act is amended, in subsection (2), by substituting “€31,000” for “€30,000” (inserted by the Finance Act 2003) and “€15,500” for “€15,000” (as so inserted).

3 Employee tax credit.

3.—(1) As respects the year of assessment 2004 and subsequent years of assessment, section 472 of the Principal Act is amended, in subsection (4), by substituting “€1,040” for “€800” (inserted by the Finance Act 2003) in both places where it occurs.

(2) Section 3 of the Finance Act 2002, shall have effect subject to the provisions of this section.

4 Amendment of section 472C (relief for trade union subscriptions) of Principal Act.

4.—As respects the year of assessment 2004 and subsequent years of assessment, section 472C (inserted by the Finance Act 2001) of the Principal Act is amended, in subsection (1), by substituting “€200” for “€130” in the definition of “specified amount”.

5 Amendment of Schedule 13 (accountable persons for purposes of Chapter 1 of Part 18) to Principal Act.

5.—(1) Schedule 13 to the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by substituting “25. The National Tourism Development Authority.” for paragraph 25,

(b) by deleting paragraph 27,

(c) by substituting “83. The Commission for Communications Regulation.” for paragraph 83,

(d) by substituting “94. The Standards in Public Office Commission.” for paragraph 94, and

(e) by inserting the following after paragraph 140 (inserted by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003):

“141. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.

(2) (a) Paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) shall be deemed to have come into force and shall take effect as on and from 28 May 2003.

(b) Paragraph (c) of subsection (1) shall be deemed to have come into force and shall take effect as on and from 1 December 2002.

(c) Paragraph (d) of subsection (1) shall be deemed to have come into force and shall take effect as on and from 10 December 2001.

(d) Paragraph (e) of subsection (1) comes into operation on 1 May 2004.

6 Amendment of section 189 (payment in respect of personal injuries) of Principal Act.

6.—Section 189 of the Principal Act is amended in subsection (1) by substituting the following for paragraph (b):

“(b) (i) pursuant to the issue of an order to pay under section 38 of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003, or

(ii) following the institution by or on behalf of the individual of a civil action for damages,

in respect of personal injury giving rise to that mental or physical infirmity.”.

7 Exemption in respect of certain payments under employment law.

7.—The Principal Act is amended in Chapter 1 of Part 7 by inserting the following after section 192:

“192A.—(1) In this section—

‘relevant Act’ means an enactment which contains provisions for the protection of employees' rights and entitlements or for the obligations of employers towards their employees;

relevant authority' means any of the following—

(a) a right commissioner,

(b) the Director of Equality Investigations,

(c) the Employment Appeals Tribunal,

(d) the Labour Court,

(e) the Circuit Court, or

(f) the High Court.

(2) Subject to subsections (3) and (5), this section applies to a payment under a relevant Act, to an employee or former employee by his or her employer or former employer, as the case may be, which is made, on or after 4 February 2004, in accordance with a recommendation, decision or a determination by a relevant authority in accordance with the provisions of that Act.

(3) A payment made in accordance with a settlement arrived at under a mediation process provided for in a relevant Act shall be treated as if it had been made in accordance with a recommendation, decision or determination under that Act of a relevant authority.

(4)(a)Subject to subsection (5) and without prejudice to any of the terms or conditions of an agreement referred to in this subsection, this section shall apply to a payment—

(i) made, on or after 4 February 2004, under an agreement evidenced in writing, being an agreement between persons who are not connected with each other (within the meaning of section 10), in settlement of a claim which—

(I) had it been made to a relevant authority, would have been a bona fide claim made under the provisions of a relevant Act,

(II) is evidenced in writing, and

(III) had the claim not been settled by the agreement, is likely to have been the subject of a recommendation, decision or determination under that Act by a relevant authority that a payment be made to the person making the claim,

(ii) the amount of which does not exceed the maximum payment which, in accordance with a decision or determination by a relevant authority (other than the Circuit Court or the High Court) under the relevant Act, could have been made under that Act in relation to the claim, had the claim not been settled by agreement, and

(iii) where—

(I) copies of the agreement and the statement of claim are kept and retained by the employer, by or on behalf of whom the payment was made, for a period of six years from the day on which the payment was made, and

(II) the employer has made copies of the agreement and the statement of claim available to an officer of the Revenue Commissioners where the officer has requested the employer to make those copies available to him or her.

(b)(i)On being so requested by an officer of the Revenue Commissioners, an employer shall make available to the officer all copies of—

(I) such agreements as are referred to in paragraph (a) entered into by or on behalf of the employer, and

(II) the statements of claim related to those agreements,

kept and retained by the employer in accordance with subparagraph (iii) of that paragraph.

(ii) The officer may examine and take extracts from or copies of any documents made available to him or her under this subsection.

(5) This section shall not apply to so much of a payment under a relevant Act or an agreement referred to in subsection (4) as is—

(a) a payment, however described, in respect of remuneration including arrears of remuneration, or

(b) a payment referred to in section 123(1) or 480(2)(a).

(6) Payments to which this section applies shall be exempt from income tax and shall not be reckoned in computing total income for the purposes of the Income Tax Acts.”.

8 Exemption in respect of certain benefits-in-kind.

8.—(1) Part 5 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in section 116—

(i) by inserting the following after the definition of “business premises”:

“‘business use’, in relation to the use of an asset by a person, means the use of that asset by the person in the performance of the duties of the person's office or employment;”,

and

(ii) by inserting the following after the definition of “employment”:

“‘private use’, in relation to an asset, means use of the asset other than business use.”,

(b) in section 118 by substituting the following for subsection (5A) (inserted by the Finance Act 1999):

“(5A) (a) Subsection (1) shall not apply to expense incurred by the body corporate in or in connection with the provision for a director or employee of a monthly or annual bus or railway pass issued by or on behalf of one or more approved transport providers for travel on either or both bus and railway.

(b) In this subsection—

‘approved transport provider’ means—

(a) Coras Iompair Éireann or any of its subsidiaries,

(b) a holder of a passenger licence granted under section 7 of the Road Transport Act 1932,

(c) a person who provides a passenger transport service under an arrangement entered into with Coras Iompair Éireann in accordance with section 13(1) of the Transport Act 1950,

(d) the Railway Procurement Agency or any of its subsidiaries, or

(e) a person who has entered into an arrangement with the Railway Procurement Agency, in accordance with section 43(6) of the Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Act 2001 to operate a railway;

‘railway pass’ includes a pass issued by a railway designated as a light railway or as a metro in a railway order issued under section 43 of the Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Act 2001.

(5B) (a) Subsection (1) shall not apply to expense incurred by the body corporate in or in connection with the provision, without any transfer of the property in it, for a director or employee of a mobile telephone for business use where private use of the mobile telephone is incidental.

(b) The mobile telephones to which the exemption provided by this subsection applies include any mobile telephone provided in connection with a car or van notwithstanding that the vehicle is made available as referred to in section 121 or 121A, as the case may be.

(c) In this subsection ‘mobile telephone’ means telephone apparatus which—

(i) is not physically connected to a land-line, and

(ii) is not a cordless telephone.

(d) For the purposes of paragraph (c)—

‘cordless telephone’ means telephone apparatus designed or adapted to provide a wireless extension to a telephone, and used only as such an extension to a telephone that is physically connected to a land-line;

‘telephone apparatus’ means wireless telegraphy apparatus designed or adapted for the purposes of transmitting and receiving either or both spoken messages and information (being information for the same purposes as the Electronic Commerce Act 2000) and connected to a public telecommunications network (as defined in the European Communities (Telecommunications Services) Regulations 1992 (S.I. No. 45 of 1992)).

(5C) (a) Subsection (1) shall not apply to expense incurred by the body corporate in or in connection with the provision for a director or employee of a high-speed internet connection to the director's or employee's home for business use where private use of the connection is incidental.

(b) In this subsection ‘high-speed internet connection’ means a connection capable of transmitting information (being information for the same purposes as the Electronic Commerce Act 2000) at a rate equal to or greater than 250 kilobits per second.

(5D) (a) Subsection (1) shall not apply to expense incurred by the body corporate in or in connection with the provision, without any transfer of the property in it, for a director or employee of computer equipment for business use where private use of the computer equipment is incidental.

(b) In this section ‘computer equipment’, in addition to a computer, includes—

(i) a facsimile machine, and

(ii) printers, scanners, modems, discs, disc drives, and other peripheral devices designed to be used by being connected to or inserted in a computer and computer software to be used in such equipment.

(5E) (a) Subsection (1) shall not apply to expense incurred by the body corporate, or incurred by a director or employee and reimbursed by the body corporate, in or in connection with the payment on behalf of a director or employee of the annual membership fees of a professional body where membership of that body by the director or employee is relevant to the business of the body corporate.

(b) Membership of a professional body by a director or employee of a body corporate may be regarded as relevant to the business of that body corporate where—

(i) it is necessary for the performance of the duties of the office or employment of the director or employee, or

(ii) it facilitates the acquisition of knowledge which—

(I) is necessary for or directly related to the performance of the duties of the office or employment of the director or employee, or

(II) would be necessary for or directly related to the performance of prospective duties of the office or employment of the director or employee with that body corporate.

(5F) Subsection (1) shall not apply to expense incurred by the body corporate in or in connection with the provision, without any transfer of the property in it, for a director or employee of a mechanically propelled road vehicle which is—

(a) designed or constructed solely or mainly for the carriage of goods or other burden, and

(b) of a type not commonly used as a private vehicle and unsuitable to be so used.”,

and

(c) in section 121A (inserted by the Finance Act 2003)—

(i) in subsection (1)—

(I) by inserting the following before the definition of “van”:

“‘gross vehicle weight’, in relation to a vehicle, means the weight which the vehicle is designed or adapted not to exceed when in normal use and travelling on the road laden.”,

and

(II) in the definition of “van”—

(A) by deleting “and” in paragraph (b),

(B) by substituting “areas, and” for “areas.”, in paragraph (c), and

(C) by inserting the following after paragraph (c):

“(d) has a gross vehicle weight not exceeding 3,500 kilograms.”,

and

(ii) by inserting the following after subsection (2):

“(2A) Subsection (2) shall not apply for a year of assessment in respect of the private use of a van made available to a person (in this subsection referred to as the ‘employee’) as set out in that subsection where the following conditions are met—

(a) the van made available to the employee is necessary for the performance of the duties of the employee's employment,

(b) the employee is required by the person who made the van available to keep it, when not in use in the performance of the duties of the employee's employment, at or in the vicinity of the employee's private residence,

(c) apart from travel between the employee's private residence and workplace, other private use of the van is prohibited by the person making the van available and there is no such other private use, and

(d) in the performance of the duties of his or her employment, the employee spends at least 80 per cent of his or her time engaged on such duties away from the premises of the employer to which the employee is attached.”.

(2) This section is deemed to have come into force and taken effect as on and from 1 January 2004.

9 Amendment of Chapter 4 (collection and recovery of income tax on certain emoluments (PAYE system)) of Part 42 of Principal Act.

9.—(1) Chapter 4 of Part 42 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in section 985A (inserted by the Finance Act 2003)—

(i) in subsection (1)—

(I) by substituting “Subject to subsection (1A), this section applies” for “This section applies”, and

(II) by deleting “excluding perquisites or profits whatever in the form of shares (including stock) in a company, but” in paragraph (a),

(ii) by inserting the following after subsection (1)—

“(1A) Subsection (1) shall not apply to emoluments in the form of perquisites or profits whatever received by an employee in the form of shares (including stock) being shares or stock in—

(a) the company in which the employee holds his or her office or employment, or

(b) a company which has control (within the meaning of section 432) of that company.”,

(iii) by inserting the following after subsection (4)—

“(4A) Any amount of tax which an employer remits in accordance with subsection (4) and any regulations made under that subsection in respect of a notional payment shall be treated as an amount of tax which, at the time the notional payment is made, is deducted in respect of the employee's liability to income tax.”,

and

(iv) by inserting the following after subsection (6):

“(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.”,

(b) by inserting the following after section 985A—