Finance Act 2020
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Amendment of Part 7 of Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020 | ||
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63. (1) Section 28 of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020 is amended— | ||
(a) in subsection (12), by deleting paragraph (b), and | ||
(b) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (12): | ||
“(12A) A person aggrieved by an assessment or an amended assessment to relevant tax made on that person may appeal the assessment or amended assessment, as the case may be, to the Appeal Commissioners, in accordance with section 949I of the Act, within the period of 30 days after the date of the notice of assessment or the amended assessment, as may be appropriate.”. | ||
(2) Section 28A (inserted by section 2 (2) of the Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Act 2020 ) of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020 is amended— | ||
(a) in subsection (5)(a), by substituting “Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation” for “Department of Business, Jobs and Innovation”, and | ||
(b) in subsection (6)(b), by substituting “subsection (3)” for “subsection (2)”. | ||
(3) Section 28B (inserted by the Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Act 2020 ) of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020 is amended— | ||
(a) in subsection (1) — | ||
(i) by inserting the following definition after the definition of “Minister”: | ||
“‘proprietary director’, in relation to a company, has the same meaning as it has in section 472 of the Act;”, | ||
(ii) by substituting the following for the definition of “qualifying employee”: | ||
“‘qualifying employee’, in relation to an employer, means, subject to subsections (1A) and (1B)— | ||
(a) an individual, who, in relation to the employer is or was a specified employee for the purposes of section 28, or | ||
(b) any other individual who is on the payroll of the employer at any time in the qualifying period and receives in that period a payment of emoluments from the employer, but does not include— | ||
(i) in the case where the employer is a company, any individual who is a proprietary director of the company, and | ||
(ii) any individual who is connected with the employer, | ||
other than in a case in which that individual had been on the payroll of the employer at any time in the period from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020 and had received in that period a payment of emoluments from the employer and the employer has submitted to the Revenue Commissioners in that period a notification of the payment of the emoluments in accordance with Regulation 10 of the Regulations, | ||
and, for the purposes of this definition, the question of whether an individual is connected with any other person shall be determined in accordance with section 10 of the Act as it applies for the purposes of the Capital Gains Tax Acts;”, | ||
and | ||
(iii) in the definition of “wage subsidy payment”, by substituting “subsections (7), (8) and (21)(aa) and (c)” for “subsections (7), (8) and (21)(c)”, | ||
(b) by inserting the following subsections after subsection (1): | ||
“(1A) Where, apart from this subsection, an individual who is a proprietary director of two or more companies would be a qualifying employee in relation to those two or more companies, then the following provisions of this subsection shall have effect: | ||
(a) the individual may give a notification to one, and one only, of those companies that he or she has elected to be treated as a qualifying employee in relation to that company; | ||
(b) on the receipt of the notification referred to in paragraph (a), the company concerned shall be entitled to treat the individual concerned as its qualifying employee, and no other company of which the individual concerned is a proprietary director shall be entitled to treat the individual as its qualifying employee; | ||
(c) unless and until the individual gives to a company referred to in paragraph (a) the notification there referred to, no company of which the individual is a proprietary director shall be entitled to treat the individual as its qualifying employee. | ||
(1B) Where, in accordance with subsection (1A)(a), an individual elects to be treated as a qualifying employee in relation to a company, that election— | ||
(a) shall be deemed to have come into effect as on and from the date of the first notification first-mentioned in subsection (7) for that individual by the company, and | ||
(b) shall be irrevocable.”, | ||
(c) in subsection (2) — | ||
(i) by substituting “this section shall apply to an employer for the period 1 July 2020 to 31 December 2020 (in this subsection referred to as ‘the specified period’), where” for “this section shall apply to an employer where”, and | ||
(ii) in paragraph (a)(i)(I), by substituting “there will occur in the specified period” for “there will occur in the period from 1 July 2020 to December 2020 (in this subsection referred to as ‘the specified period’)”, | ||
(d) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (2): | ||
“(2A) Subject to subsections (4) and (5), this section shall apply to an employer for the period from 1 January 2021 to the date on which the qualifying period expires where— | ||
(a) (i) in accordance with guidelines published by the Revenue Commissioners under subsection (20)(a), the employer demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that, by reason of Covid-19 and the disruption that is being caused thereby to commerce— | ||
(I) there will occur in the period from 1 January 2021 to 30 June 2021 (in this subsection referred to as ‘the second specified period’) at least a 30 per cent reduction, or such other percentage reduction as the Minister may specify in an order made by him or her under subsection (21)(b), in either the turnover of the employer’s business or in the customer orders being received by the employer by reference to the period from 1 January 2019 to 30 June 2019 (in this subsection referred to as ‘the second corresponding period’), | ||
(II) in the case where the business of the employer has not operated for the whole of the second corresponding period but the commencement of that business’s operation occurred no later than 1 May 2019, there will occur in the part of the second specified period, which corresponds to the part of the second corresponding period in which the business has operated, at least a 30 per cent reduction, or such other percentage reduction as the Minister may specify in an order made by him or her under subsection (21)(b), in either the turnover of the employer’s business or in the customer orders being received by the employer by reference to that part of the second corresponding period, or | ||
(III) in the case where the commencement of the operation of the employer’s business occurred after 1 May 2019, the nature of the business is such that the turnover of the employer’s business or the customer orders being received by the employer in the second specified period will be at least— | ||
(A) 30 per cent, or | ||
(B) such other percentage as the Minister may specify in an order made by him or her under subsection (21)(b), | ||
less than what that turnover or those customer orders, as the case may be, would otherwise have been had there been no disruption caused to the business by reason of Covid-19, | ||
or | ||
(ii) the employer’s name is entered in the register established and maintained under section 58C of the Child Care Act 1991 , | ||
and | ||
(b) the employer satisfies the conditions specified in subsection (3).”, | ||
(e) in subsection (3) by substituting “subsection (2)(b) or (2A)(b)” for “subsection (2)(b)”, | ||
(f) in subsection (5) — | ||
(i) by substituting “by virtue of subsection (2) (apart from paragraph (a)(ii) thereof) or (2A) (apart from paragraph (a)(ii) thereof)” for “by virtue of subsection (2) (apart from paragraph (a)(ii) thereof)”, and | ||
(ii) in paragraph (b), by substituting “subsection (2)(a)(i) or (2A)(a)(i), as may be appropriate” for “subsection (2)(a)(i)”, | ||
(g) in subsection (7) — | ||
(i) by substituting “subsections (8), (9) and (12A)” for “subsections (8) and (9)”, and | ||
(ii) by substituting the following paragraph for paragraph (d): | ||
“(d) a payment or an aggregate payment required under this subsection to be made by the Revenue Commissioners to the employer in relation to a qualifying employee or qualifying employees shall be made by the Revenue Commissioners as soon as may be practicable after the date of the notification by the employer of the payment of emoluments to the qualifying employee or the qualifying employees concerned;”, | ||
(h) in subsection (8) — | ||
(i) by substituting “subsections (9), (21)(aa) and (21)(c)” for “subsections (9) and (21)(c)”, and | ||
(ii) by substituting the following paragraphs for paragraphs (a) and (b): | ||
“(a) in the case where the employer pays the qualifying employee gross pay of at least €151.50 per week but not more than €202.99 per week, the sum of— | ||
(i) €151.50 per contribution week, or | ||
(ii) where the date of the payment of the emoluments by the employer to the qualifying employee is in the period beginning on 20 October 2020 and ending on 31 January 2021, €203 per contribution week, | ||
and | ||
(b) in the case where the employer pays the qualifying employee gross pay of not less than €203 per week but not more than €1,462 per week, the sum of— | ||
(i) €203 per contribution week, or | ||
(ii) where the date of the payment of the emoluments by the employer to the qualifying employee is in the period beginning on 20 October 2020 and ending on 31 January 2021— | ||
(I) €250 per contribution week, where the gross pay so paid to the qualifying employee is not more than €299.99 per week, | ||
(II) €300 per contribution week, where the gross pay so paid to the qualifying employee is not more than €399.99 per week, or | ||
(III) €350 per contribution week, where the gross pay so paid to the qualifying employee is at least €400.00 per week,”, | ||
(i) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (12): | ||
“(12A) Where, apart from this subsection, a payment or an aggregate payment would be required to be made by the Revenue Commissioners to an employer under subsection (7), the Revenue Commissioners may, instead of making the payment or the aggregate payment, set the amount of that payment or any part of that payment against any amount that is required to be refunded by the employer to the Revenue Commissioners in accordance with subsection (11).”, | ||
(j) in subsection (14) — | ||
(i) by deleting paragraph (b), and | ||
(ii) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (14): | ||
“(14A) A person aggrieved by an assessment or an amended assessment to relevant tax made on that person may appeal the assessment or amended assessment, as the case may be, to the Appeal Commissioners, in accordance with section 949I of the Act, within the period of 30 days after the date of the notice of assessment or the amended assessment, as may be appropriate.”, | ||
(k) in subsection (17) — | ||
(i) in paragraph (a), by substituting “subsection (2) or (2A)” for “subsection (2)”, and | ||
(ii) in paragraph (b), by substituting “subsection (2) or (2A)” for “subsection (2)”, | ||
(l) in subsection (20)(a), by substituting “subsection (2) or (2A)” for “subsection (2)”, | ||
(m) in subsection (21) — | ||
(i) by inserting the following paragraph after (a): | ||
“(aa) make an order that any day referred to in paragraphs (a)(ii) and (b)(ii) of subsection (8) as the day on which the period there referred to shall begin on, or end on, shall be such other day as the Minister considers appropriate and specifies in the order,”, | ||
(ii) in paragraph (b) — | ||
(I) by substituting “subsection (2)(a)(i) or (2A)(a)(i)” for “subsection (2)(a)(i)”, and | ||
(II) by substituting “section 28A(3)” for “section 28A(2)”, | ||
and | ||
(iii) in paragraph (c), by substituting “section 28A(3)” for “section 28A(2)”, | ||
and | ||
(n) in subsection (22) by substituting “(a), (aa), (b) or (c)” for “(a), (b) or (c)”. | ||
(4) Subsection (1) shall be deemed to have come into operation on 27 March 2020. | ||
(5) Subsection (2) shall be deemed to have come into operation on 20 October 2020. | ||
(6) Subsection (3) (apart from paragraphs (i) and (g)(i) thereof) shall be deemed to have come into operation— | ||
(a) as respects paragraph (j) thereof, on 1 August 2020, | ||
(b) as respects paragraphs (a) (apart from subparagraph (iii) thereof) and (b) thereof, on 1 September 2020, | ||
(c) as respects paragraphs (a)(iii), (h), (m) (apart from subparagraph (ii)(I) thereof) and (n) thereof, on 20 October 2020, | ||
(d) as respects paragraph (g)(ii) thereof, on 1 November 2020, and | ||
(e) as respects paragraphs (c), (d), (e), (f), (k), (l) and (m)(ii)(I) thereof, on 1 January 2021. |