Finance (No. 2) Act 2013

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Amendment of Chapter 3 of Part 3 of Finance Act 2010 (solid fuel carbon tax)

51. (1) Chapter 3 of Part 3 of the Finance Act 2010 is amended—

(a) in section 77—

(i) by substituting the following for the definition of “briquettes”:

“ ‘briquettes’ means milled peat which has been mechanically compressed into blocks for use as fuel;”,

(ii) by substituting the following for the definition of “coal”:

“ ‘coal’ means—

(a) except where paragraph (b) applies, any fuel in solid form manufactured from coal falling within CN Code 2701 or from lignite falling within CN Code 2702,

(b) any energy product within the meaning of Article 2.1 of the Directive, in solid form, for use as a fuel;”,

(iii) by substituting the following for the definition of “peat”:

“ ‘peat’ means peat falling within CN Code 2703 and includes any fuel in solid form manufactured from peat or manufactured from a combination of peat and any product other than coal falling within CN Code 2701 or lignite falling within CN Code 2702;”,

(iv) by substituting the following for the definition of “supplier”:

“ ‘supplier’ means—

(a) except where paragraph (b) applies, a taxable person within the meaning of section 2 of the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010 ,

(b) an accountable person for the purposes of Part 2 of the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010 ,

who supplies solid fuel;”,

(v) by substituting the following for the definition of “supply”:

“ ‘supply’ means—

(a) except where paragraph (b) applies, the supply of a quantity of solid fuel to another person,

(b) the supply of a quantity of solid fuel by a supplier for combustion by that supplier;”,

and

(vi) by inserting the following definitions:

“ ‘biomass’ means the biodegradable fraction of products, waste and residues from agriculture (including vegetal and animal substances), forestry and related industries, as well as the biodegradable fraction of industrial and municipal waste;

‘biomass content’ in relation to a solid fuel product means the percentage of the weight of that product that is accounted for by biomass;

‘biomass product’ means any solid fuel product with a biomass content of 30 per cent or more;

‘first supplied’ means the first time a supply is made within the State by a supplier;”,

(b) in section 78 by deleting subsection (2), and

(c) by inserting the following section after section 82:

“Relief for biomass content of solid fuel

82A. (1) Where the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government makes regulations under section 53 of the Air Pollution Act 1987 to provide for—

(a) the identification of biomass products supplied by a supplier,

(b) the marking to be applied to the packaging of biomass products for the purposes of such identification, and

(c) the records to be kept by suppliers relating to the biomass products received, produced, held, delivered and supplied by them,

then, subject to such conditions as the Commissioners may prescribe or otherwise impose, a partial relief from tax (referred to in this section as ‘the relief’) shall be granted on any biomass product that is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioners to have been first supplied by a supplier in accordance with the regulations.

(2) The relief on the supply of a quantity of biomass product shall be calculated as follows:

(a) 30 per cent of the tax chargeable where the biomass content of that product is less than 50 per cent;

(b) 50 per cent of the tax chargeable where the biomass content of that product is 50 per cent or more.

(3) (a) The relief shall, except where paragraph (b) applies, be applied by way of remission, and the supplier shall account for and pay the tax on the biomass product concerned at the rate specified in Schedule 1 less the amount of the relief.

(b) Where any biomass product has been first supplied by a supplier without application of the relief in accordance with paragraph (a), the Commissioners shall, subject to such conditions as they may impose in any particular case, apply the relief to that supply by way of repayment.

(c) Except where the Commissioners may in any particular case allow, a repayment claim shall be made within 4 months following the date on which the tax was paid on the biomass products concerned.”.

(2) Subsection (1)(c) comes into operation on such day as the Minister for Finance may appoint by order.