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Finance Act 2003

Exchange of information.

38.—For the purposes of assisting the prevention and detection of tax evasion, by means of the exchange of information between the Revenue Commissioners and the tax authorities of certain other territories, the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in section 826 by the substitution for subsection (1) of the following:

“(1) Where the Government by order declare that arrangements specified in the order have been made with the government of any territory outside the State in relation to—

(a) affording relief from double taxation in respect of—

(i) income tax;

(ii) corporation tax in respect of income and chargeable gains;

(iii) any taxes of a similar character imposed by the laws of the State or by the laws of that territory,

or

(b) exchanging information for the purposes of the prevention and detection of tax evasion in respect of the taxes specified in paragraph (a),

and that it is expedient that those arrangements should have the force of law, then, subject to this section and section 835, the arrangements shall, notwithstanding any enactment, have the force of law.”,

and

(b) by inserting the following after section 912:

“Information for tax authorities in other territories.

912A.—(1) In this section—

‘foreign tax’ means a tax chargeable under the laws of a territory in relation to which arrangements (in this section referred to as ‘the arrangements’) having the force of law by virtue of section 826 apply;

‘liability to foreign tax’, in relation to a person, means any liability in relation to foreign tax to which the person is or may be, or may have been, subject, or the amount of any such liability.

(2) For the purposes of complying with provisions with respect to the exchange of information contained in the arrangements, sections 900, 901, 902, 902A, 906A, 907 and 908 shall, subject to subsection (3), have effect—

(a) as if reference in those sections to tax included references to foreign tax, and

(b) as if references in those sections to liability, in relation to a person, included references to liability to foreign tax, in relation to a person.

(3) Where sections 902A, 907 and 908 have effect by virtue only of this section, they shall have effect as if—

(a) there were substituted ‘ “a tax-payer” means a person;’ for the definition of ‘a taxpayer’ in subsection (1) of each of those sections, and

(b) the references in those sections to—

(i) tax, were references to foreign tax, and

(ii) any provision of the Acts, were references to any provision of the law of a territory in accordance with which foreign tax is charged or collected.”.