Finance Act, 1992

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Extension and amendment of section 17 (tax deductions from payments to subcontractors in the construction industry) of Finance Act, 1970.

28.—As on and from the 6th day of October, 1992, section 17 (as amended by section 128 of the Finance Act, 1991 ) of the Finance Act, 1970 , is hereby amended—

(a) in subsection (1)—

(i) by the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “certificate of authorisation”:

“‘certification of authorisation’ means a certificate issued under subsection (7), which certificate shall be valid for such period as the Revenue Commissioners may by regulations made in accordance with subsection (5) provide;”,

(ii) by the deletion of the definitions of “construction contract”, “construction payments card” and “construction tax deduction card”,

(iii) by the insertion of the following definitions after the definition of “construction operations”:

“‘forestry operations’ means operations of any of the following descriptions—

(a) the thinning, lopping or felling of trees in woods, forests or other plantations;

(b) the haulage or removal of thinned, lopped or felled trees;

(c) the processing (including cutting or preserving) of wood from thinned, lopped or felled trees in sawmills or other like premises;

(d) the haulage for hire of materials, machinery or plant for use, whether used or not, in any of the aforesaid operations;

‘meat processing operations’ means operations of any of the following descriptions—

(a) the slaughter of cattle, sheep or pigs;

(b) the division (including cutting or boning), sorting, packaging (including vacuum packaging) or branding of, or the application of any other similar process to, the carcasses, or any part of the carcasses, of slaughtered cattle, sheep or pigs;

(c) the application of methods of preservation (including cold storage) to the carcasses, or any part of the carcasses, of slaughtered cattle, sheep or pigs;

(d) the loading or unloading of the carcasses, or any part of the carcasses, of slaughtered cattle, sheep or pigs at any establishment where any of the operations referred to in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) are carried on;”,

(iv) by the substitution in the definition of “qualifying period” of “in the year preceding the year of assessment which is the first year of assessment of the period in respect of which a certificate of authorisation is sought” for “in the year preceding the year of assessment in respect of which a certificate of authorisation is sought”, and

(v) by the insertion after the definition of “qualifying period” of the following definitions:

“‘relevant contract’ means a contract (not being a contract of employment) whereby a person (in this section referred to as ‘the contractor’) is liable to another person (in this section referred to as ‘the principal’)—

(a) to carry out relevant operations; or

(b) to be answerable for the carrying out of such operations by others, whether under a contract with him or under other arrangements made or to be made by him; or

(c) to furnish his own labour, or the labour of others, in the carrying out of such operations;

‘relevant operations’ means construction operations, forestry operations or meat processing operations, as the case may be;

‘relevant payments card’ has the meaning assigned to it by subsection (8);

‘relevant tax deduction card’ has the meaning assigned to it by subsection (5).”,

(b) in subsection (2)—

(i) by the substitution of “relevant contract” for “construction contract” in both places where it occurs,

(ii) by the substitution of “relevant operations” for “construction operations”, and

(iii) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (b) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1981 ):

“(b) a person—

(i) carrying on a business which includes the erection of buildings or the manufacture, treatment or extraction of materials for use, whether used or not, in construction operations, or

(ii) carrying on a business of meat processing operations in an establishment approved and inspected in accordance with the European Communities (Fresh Meat) Regulations, 1987 ( S.I. No. 284 of 1987 ), or

(iii) carrying on a business which includes the processing (including cutting and preserving) of wood from thinned or felled trees in sawmills or other like premises or the supply of thinned or felled trees for such processing, or”,

(c) in subsection (4), by the insertion of the following clause after clause (A) of subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (c):

“(AA) under the Capital Gains Tax Acts,”,

(d) in subsection (5)—

(i) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a):

“(a) (i) the issue for a year of assessment, or, in relation to such class or classes of sub-contractor as may be specified in the regulations, for such longer period as may be so specified, of certificates of authorisation,

(ii) the refusal to issue, appeal against refusal to issue, recall or cancellation of certificates of authorisation and the surrender of such certificates, and

(iii) the production of documents or other material, including a photograph of the subcontractor or, in a case where the sub-contractor is not an individual, a photograph of the individual by whom the certificate of authorisation will be produced in accordance with subsection (8) (a), in support of an application for a certificate of authorisation;”,

and

(ii) by the substitution in paragraph (b) of “relevant payments cards” and “relevant tax deduction cards” for “construction payments cards” and “construction tax deduction cards” respectively,

(e) in subsection (7)—

(i) by the substitution in subparagraph (i) of paragraph (a) of “relevant contracts” for “construction contracts”,

(ii) by the substitution in subparagraph (iv) of paragraph (a) of “the Tax Acts, the Capital Gains Tax Acts or the Value-Added Tax Act, 1972 ,” for “the Tax Acts, or the Acts relating to corporation profits tax”, and

(iii) by the deletion of paragraph (c),

(f) in subsection (8)—

(i) by the substitution in paragraph (a) of “relevant payments card” for “construction payments card”, and

(ii) by the substitution in paragraph (b) of “relevant payments card” and “to which the relevant payments card relates” for “construction payments card” and “to which the sub-contractor's certificate of authorisation relates” respectively,

(g) in subsection (9)—

(i) by the insertion after subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (a) of the following subparagraph:

“(iiia) in the case of a certificate issued to a company, there has been a change in control of the company,”,

(ii) by the substitution of the following subparagraph for subparagraph (iv) of paragraph (a):

“(iv) a person to whom a certificate of authorisation was issued has failed to comply with any of the obligations imposed on him by the Tax Acts, the Capital Gains Tax Acts, the Value-Added Tax Act, 1972 , or by any regulations made thereunder in relation to—

(I) the payment or remittance of the taxesrequired to be paid or remitted under any of those Acts,

(II) the delivery of returns, and

(III) requests to supply to an inspector accounts of, or other information about, any business carried on by him,”,

(iii) by the substitution in subparagraph (v) of paragraph (a) of “relevant contracts” for “construction contracts”,

(iv) by the substitution in subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (b) of “relevant payments cards” and “relevant tax deduction card” for “construction payments cards” and “construction tax deduction card”, respectively, and

(v) by the addition after paragraph (c) of the following paragraph:

“(d) In paragraph (a) and subsection (10) (c) ‘control’ has the same meaning as in section 102 of the Corporation Tax Act, 1976 .”,

and

(h) in subsection (10)—

(i) by the insertion after “a certificate of authorisation” in subparagraph (i) of paragraph (a) of “or a relevant payments card”,

(ii) by the substitution of “£1,000” for “£500” in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c),

(iii) by the substitution in paragraph (c) of “relevant payments card or relevant tax deduction card” for “construction payments card or construction tax deduction card” in both places where it occurs, and

(iv) by the addition after subparagraph (iv) of paragraph (c) of the following subparagraphs to that paragraph:

“(v) who fails to give a sub-contractor from whom tax has been deducted under subsection (2) a certificate of deduction in the prescribed form containing such particulars as are required to be entered therein by virtue of any regulations made under this section, or

(vi) who, being a company to which a certificate of authorisation has been issued under subsection (7), fails to notify the Revenue Commissioners of a change in control of the company,”.