Finance Act 2012

• Permanent Page URL

Amendment of provisions relating to the international financial services industry.

100.— (1) The Principal Act is amended—

(a) in section 1(1) by substituting the following for the definition of “stock”:

“ ‘stock’ includes any share in any stocks or funds transferable at the Bank of England or at the Bank of Ireland and any share in the stocks or funds of any foreign state or government, or in the capital stock or funded debt of any county council, corporation, company, or society in the State, or of any foreign corporation, company, or society and includes any option over any share in such stocks or funds;”,

(b) by inserting the following after section 82B:

“Pension schemes and charities.

82C.— (1) In this section—

‘Act of 1997’ means the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 ;

‘charity’ means a body of persons or a trust established for charitable purposes only;

‘common contractual fund’ has the meaning given to it by section 739I(1)(a)(i) of the Act of 1997;

‘investment undertaking’ has the meaning given to it by section 739B(1) of the Act of 1997;

‘pension scheme’ means—

(a) a retirement benefits scheme, within the meaning of section 771 of the Act of 1997, approved by the Commissioners for the purposes of Chapter 1 of Part 30 of that Act,

(b) an annuity contract or a trust scheme or part of a trust scheme approved by the Commissioners under section 784 of the Act of 1997,

(c) a PRSA contract, within the meaning of section 787A of the Act of 1997, in respect of a PRSA product, within the meaning of that section,

(d) an approved retirement fund within the meaning of section 784A of the Act of 1997,

(e) an approved minimum retirement fund within the meaning of section 784C of the Act of 1997, or

(f) a scheme within the meaning of section 790B of the Act of 1997;

‘specified fund’ means a common contractual fund, investment undertaking, unit linked life fund, or unit trust, all the issued units or shares of which are assets such that if those assets were disposed of by the unit holder or shareholder any gain accruing would be wholly exempt from capital gains tax (otherwise than by reason of residence);

‘unit linked life fund’ means a fund in which assets are held by an assurance company for the purposes of its new basis business;

‘unit trust’ means a unit trust to which subsection (5)(a)(i) of section 731 of the Act of 1997 applies;

‘assurance company’ and ‘new basis business’ have the meanings given to them respectively by section 730A of the Act of 1997.

(2) Stamp duty shall not be chargeable on any instrument made for the purposes of a transfer of property—

(a) held by or for the benefit of a pension scheme or a charity, in circumstances where the property continues to be so held after the transfer has taken place,

(b) held by or for the benefit of a pension scheme or a charity to a specified fund, in circumstances where the specified fund issues units or shares to be held by or for the benefit of the pension scheme or the charity,

(c) held by a specified fund to or for the benefit of a pension scheme or charity, or

(d) held by a specified fund (in this paragraph referred to as a ‘transferring fund’) to another specified fund (in this paragraph referred to as a ‘receiving fund’) in circumstances where the receiving fund issues units or shares to—

(i) the transferring fund, or

(ii) the unit holders or shareholders in the transferring fund in respect of and in proportion to (or as nearly as they may be in proportion to) their holdings of units or shares in the transferring fund,

to be held by or for the benefit of the pension scheme or the charity.”,

(c) in section 88(1)(b)(iii) by substituting “(5) or (6)” for “(6)”,

(d) in section 88(1)(b)(iv) by substituting “company or other body corporate” for “company”,

(e) in section 88B by substituting the following for subsection (2):

“(2) Stamp duty shall not be chargeable on any instrument made for the purposes of or in connection with any arrangement between a foreign fund and a domestic fund, being an arrangement entered into for the purposes of or in connection with a scheme of reconstruction or amalgamation under which—

(a) the foreign fund transfers assets to the domestic fund and the domestic fund—

(i) issues units to persons who hold units in the foreign fund in respect of and in proportion to (or as nearly as may be in proportion to) their holdings of units in the foreign fund, or

(ii) issues units directly to the foreign fund,

or

(b) the domestic fund transfers assets to the foreign fund and the foreign fund—

(i) issues units to persons who hold units in the domestic fund in respect of and in proportion to (or as nearly as may be in proportion to) their holdings of units in the domestic fund, or

(ii) issues units directly to the domestic fund.”,

(f) by inserting the following after section 88E:

“Reconstruction or amalgamation of offshore funds.

88F.— Stamp duty shall not be chargeable on any instrument made for the purposes of or in connection with—

(a) a scheme of reconstruction or amalgamation of an offshore fund to which section 747F of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 refers, or

(b) an exchange referred to in paragraph (b) of section 747E(1A) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 .”,

(g) by inserting the following after section 88F (inserted by paragraph (f)):

“Amalgamation of unit trusts.

88G.— Stamp duty shall not be chargeable on any instrument made for the purposes of or in connection with a scheme of amalgamation to which section 739D(8C) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 refers.”,

(h) in section 90(2)(g)(ii) by substituting “a lease or an interest in a lease,” for “a lease,”, and

(i) in section 98(2) by substituting the following for paragraph (b):

“(b) the stocks or marketable securities of a company, other than a company which is an investment undertaking within the meaning of section 739B of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 , which is registered in the State.”.

(2) Subsection (1) (b) has effect in respect of instruments executed on or after 8 February 2012.