Finance Act 2006

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Amendment of Chapter 3 (other obligations and returns) of Part 38 of Principal Act.

125.— Chapter 3 of Part 38 of the Principal Act is amended by inserting after section 891A the following:

“Returns of certain payments made by certain persons.

891B.— (1) In this section—

‘assurance company’ means―

(a) an assurance company within the meaning of section 3 of the Insurance Act 1936 , or

(b) a person that holds an authorisation within the meaning of the European Communities (Life Assurance) Framework Regulations 1994 ( S.I. No. 360 of 1994 );

‘collective fund’ means—

(a) an investment undertaking (within the meaning of section 739B), or

(b) a unit trust to which section 731(5) applies;

‘financial institution’ means—

(a) a person who holds or has held a licence under section 9 of the Central Bank Act 1971 ,

(b) a person referred to in section 7(4) of the Central Bank Act 1971 , or

(c) a credit institution (within the meaning of the European Communities (Licensing and Supervision of Credit Institutions) Regulations, 1992 ( S.I. No. 395 of 1992 )) which has been authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland to carry on business of a credit institution in accordance with the provisions of the supervisory enactments (within the meaning of those Regulations);

‘PPS Number’, in relation to an individual, means the individual’s personal public service number (within the meaning of section 262 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 );

‘relevant payment’, in relation to a specified person, means—

(a) in the case of a specified person which is an assurance company, a collective fund or a financial institution—

(i) any payment of interest or in the nature of interest,

(ii) any payment in respect of any investment,

(iii) any payment made in the nature of a return on an investment, or

(iv) any other similar payment,

of a kind or kinds specified or defined in regulations which is made or credited by or through the specified person, and

(b) in the case of any other specified person, any payment of a kind or kinds specified or defined in regulations made or credited by or through the specified person;

‘relevant person’ means—

(a) any assurance company,

(b) any financial institution,

(c) any collective fund, or

(d) any Minister of the Government, any body established by or under statute, or any other body which undertakes the disbursement of public funds;

‘Revenue officer’ means an officer of the Revenue Commissioners;

‘specified person’ means a person who is a member of a class of relevant persons specified in regulations;

‘tax’ means any tax provided for under the Tax Acts or the Capital Gains Tax Acts;

‘tax reference number’, in relation to a person, means—

(a) in the case of a person who is an individual, the individual’s PPS Number, and

(b) in any other case—

(i) the reference number stated on any return of income form or notice of assessment issued to the person by a Revenue officer, or

(ii) the registration number of the person for the purposes of value-added tax.

(2) (a) For the purposes of this section and any regulations—

(i) any amount credited, or set off against any other amount, in respect of a relevant payment shall be treated as a payment and references in this section and in regulations to a payment shall be construed accordingly, and

(ii) any reference in this section and in regulations to the amount of a payment shall be construed as a reference to the amount which would be the amount of that payment if no tax were to be deducted from that payment.

(b) A reference in this section to a regulation or regulations shall be construed as a reference to a regulation or regulations made under subsection (3).

(3) The Revenue Commissioners, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may by regulations provide that a specified person be required—

(a) to make to the Revenue Commissioners a return of information relating to relevant payments made by or through the specified person concerned for or by reference to such period or periods, other than a period beginning before 1 January 2005, as may be specified in the regulations, and

(b) subject to subsection (4)(h), to include in any such return the tax reference numbers of the persons to whom any such payments are made.

(4) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (3), regulations may, in particular, include provision for—

(a) notifying a person that that person is a specified person, including the means by which such notification may be made,

(b) determining the date in any year by which a return required to be made under the regulations shall be made to the Revenue Commissioners,

(c) prescribing the office of the Revenue Commissioners to which returns should be delivered,

(d) specifying or defining the kind or kinds of relevant payments to be included in returns to be made under regulations,

(e) defining, for the purposes of determining the persons or classes of persons to be included in a return to be made under regulations, the persons or classes of persons to whom relevant payments may have been made,

(f) determining, for the purposes of including persons to whom relevant payments are made in a return to be made under regulations, the identity and place of residence or establishment of a person to whom a relevant payment is made,

(g) specifying the details relating to a relevant payment to be included in a return made under regulations,

(h) imposing an obligation on—

(i) specified persons to obtain a tax reference number from persons (in this paragraph referred to as ‘customers’)—

(I) with whom they enter into contractual relationships,

(II) for whom they undertake any transaction, or

(III) in respect of whom they make a relevant payment,

on or after a date specified in regulations, which shall not be earlier than the date such regulations come into force, for the purposes of including that number in a return under regulations, and

(ii) customers to provide a specified person with their tax reference number on request by that specified person where—

(I) such customers enter into contractual relations with the specified person, or

(II) where the specified person undertakes any transaction,

on or after a date specified in regulations where the relationship or transaction may give rise to a relevant payment,

(i) defining ‘books’ and ‘records’ for the purposes of regulations,

(j) determining the manner of keeping records and setting the period for the retention of records so kept in relation to any of the matters specified in the preceding paragraphs,

(k) Revenue officers, authorised for the purpose, to—

(i) require—

(I) the production of books, records or other documents,

(II) the provision of information, explanations and particulars,

(III) persons to give all such assistance as may reasonably be required and as is specified in the regulations,

in relation to relevant payments and the persons to whom such payments were made within such time as may be specified in regulations, and

(ii) make extracts from or copies of books, records or other documents or require that copies of such books, records and documents be made available,

and

(l) such supplemental and incidental matters as appear to the Revenue Commissioners to be necessary—

(i) to enable persons to fulfil their obligations under regulations, or

(ii) for the general administration and implementation of any regulations, including—

(I) delegating to a Revenue officer the authority to perform any acts and discharge any functions authorised by regulations to be performed or discharged by the Revenue Commissioners, and

(II) the authorisation by the Revenue Commissioners of Revenue officers to exercise any powers, to perform any acts or to discharge any functions conferred by this section or by regulations.

(5) Every regulation made 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.

(6) A Revenue officer authorised for the purpose of regulations may at all reasonable times enter any premises or place of business of a specified person for the purposes of—

(a) determining whether information—

(i) included in a return made under regulations by that specified person was correct and complete, or

(ii) not included in such a return was correctly not so included,

or

(b) examining the procedures put in place by that specified person for the purposes of ensuring compliance with that person’s obligations under regulations.

(7) (a) Section 898O shall apply to—

(i) a failure by a relevant person to deliver a return required under regulations, and to each and every such failure, and

(ii) the making of an incorrect or incomplete return under regulations,

as it applies to a failure to deliver a return or to the making of an incorrect or incomplete return referred to in section 898O.

(b) A person who does not comply with—

(i) the requirements of a Revenue officer in the exercise or performance of the officer’s powers or duties under this section or under regulations, or

(ii) a person who does not comply with any requirement of regulations made under subsection (3),

shall be liable to a penalty of €1,265; and, for the purposes of the recovery of a penalty under this paragraph, section 1061 shall apply in the same manner as it applies for the purposes of the recovery of a penalty under any of the sections referred to in that section.

(8) A relevant payment shall not be included in a return to be made under regulations if such payment is included or would be liable to be included in a return made in accordance with section 891A or Chapter 3A.

(9) Where a return (in this subsection referred to as the ‘first-mentioned return’) is furnished by a specified person under regulations a return shall not be required to be made by that person under section 891, notwithstanding the provisions of section 894, in respect of any payment included in the first-mentioned return.”.