Finance Act 2019

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Amendment of Part 6 of Principal Act (distributions and dividend withholding tax)

24. (1) The Principal Act is amended—

(a) in section 153(6)(a) by substituting “25 per cent” for “the standard rate”,

(b) in section 172A(1)(a) —

(i) in the definition of “dividend withholding tax”, by substituting “a rate of 25 per cent” for “the standard rate in force at the time the relevant distribution is made”,

(ii) by substituting the following definition for the definition of “tax reference number”:

“ ‘tax reference number’ means—

(i) in the case of an individual who is or was resident in the State, the Personal Public Service Number (within the meaning of section 262 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 ) issued to the individual,

(ii) in the case of a person, not being a person to whom subparagraph (i) applies, or other body who or which is within the charge to income tax or corporation tax in the State, the reference number stated on any return of income form or notice of assessment issued to the person or other body by an officer of the Revenue Commissioners, and

(iii) in the case of any other person or body, the reference number stated on any return of income form or notice of assessment issued, or any other reference number allocated, to the person or body for the purposes of income tax or corporation tax or any tax which corresponds to income tax or corporation tax, by the tax authority of the country in which that person or other body is resident for the purposes of income tax or corporation tax or any tax which corresponds to income tax or corporation tax;”,

and

(iii) by inserting the following definition after the definition of “tax reference number”:

“ ‘ultimate payer’ means the company, authorised withholding agent, qualifying intermediary or other person from whom a relevant distribution, or an amount or other asset representing a relevant distribution, is receivable by the person beneficially entitled to the distribution as referred to in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d), as the case may be, of section 172BA(1).”,

and

(c) by inserting the following section after section 172B:

“Obligation on certain persons to obtain tax reference numbers of persons beneficially entitled to relevant distributions

172BA. (1) As respects relevant distributions made on or after 1 January 2021—

(a) where the relevant distribution is made by a company directly to the person beneficially entitled to the relevant distribution, the company making the relevant distribution,

(b) where the relevant distribution is not made by a company directly to the person beneficially entitled to the relevant distribution but is made to that person through an authorised withholding agent, the authorised withholding agent from whom the relevant distribution, or an amount or other asset representing the relevant distribution, is receivable by the person beneficially entitled to the distribution,

(c) where the relevant distribution is not made by a company directly to the person beneficially entitled to the relevant distribution but is made to that person through one or more qualifying intermediaries, the qualifying intermediary from whom the relevant distribution, or an amount or other asset representing the relevant distribution, is receivable by the person beneficially entitled to the distribution, and

(d) where the relevant distribution is not made by a company directly to the person beneficially entitled to the relevant distribution but is made to that person through one or more other persons who is not, or not all of, or none of whom are, a qualifying intermediary, the person from whom the relevant distribution, or an amount or other asset representing the relevant distribution, is receivable by the person beneficially entitled to the distribution,

shall, in advance of the making of such a relevant distribution and in respect of each person who is beneficially entitled to such a relevant distribution, take all reasonable steps to obtain the tax reference number of that person and shall keep as a record that tax reference number, and section 886 shall apply in relation to that record as it applies in relation to records within the meaning of that section.

(2) The ultimate payer shall ensure that Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) is complied with when the ultimate payer is fulfilling the requirements of subsection (1).”.

(2) Subsection (1) shall have effect from 1 January 2020.