Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021

Amendment of section 485 of Act of 1997

4. (1) Section 485 of the Act of 1997 is amended—

(a) in subsection (1)—

(i) in paragraph (d) of the definition of “Covid restrictions period end date”, by the substitution of “the date on which the specified period shall expire” for “31 March 2021”, and

(ii) in the definition of “specified period”, by the substitution of “30 September 2021” for “31 March 2021”,

(b) in subsection (2)(b)(iv), by the substitution of “the date on which the specified period shall expire” for “31 March 2021”,

(c) in subsection (3)(b), by the substitution of “30 September 2021” for “31 March 2021”,

(d) in subsection (7)—

(i) in paragraph (a)(i)(I), by the insertion of “or, where the claim relates to a period specified in subsection (8)(b)(ii)(I) or (II) or to any full week falling within the period beginning on 5 July 2021 and ending on 18 July 2021, 20 per cent,” after “10 per cent”,

(ii) in paragraph (a)(i)(II), by the insertion of “or, where the claim relates to a period specified in subsection (8)(b)(ii)(I) or (II) or to any full week falling within the period beginning on 5 July 2021 and ending on 18 July 2021, 10 per cent,” after “5 per cent”,

(iii) in paragraph (a)(ii)(I), by the insertion of “or, where the claim relates to a period specified in subsection (8)(b)(ii)(I) or (II) or to any full week falling within the period beginning on 5 July 2021 and ending on 18 July 2021, 20 per cent,” after “10 per cent”,

(iv) in paragraph (a)(ii)(II), by the insertion of “or, where the claim relates to a period specified in subsection (8)(b)(ii)(I) or (II) or to any full week falling within the period beginning on 5 July 2021 and ending on 18 July 2021, 10 per cent,” after “5 per cent”, and

(v) in paragraph (b), by the insertion of “or, where the claim relates to a period specified in subsection (8)(b)(ii)(II), €10,000 per week” after “€5,000 per week”,

and

(e) in subsection (8), by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (b):

“(b) (i) Where no part of the week immediately following the date on which the applicable business restrictions provisions ceased to be in operation in respect of a relevant business activity (referred to in this paragraph as the ‘restart week’) would otherwise form part of a Covid restrictions period or a Covid restrictions extension period, a qualifying person to whom paragraph (a) applies may elect to treat a period specified in any of clauses (I) to (III) of subparagraph (ii) as a Covid restrictions extension period and may make a claim under this section in respect of that period.

(ii) The period that a qualifying person may elect to treat as a Covid restrictions extension period for the purposes of subparagraph (i) shall be—

(I) in a case where the restart week commences on or after 29 April 2021 and before 2 June 2021, a period of 2 weeks from the date on which the restart week commences,

(II) in a case where the restart week commences on or after 2 June 2021 and before the date on which the specified period shall expire and the qualifying person has not elected to treat a period specified in clause (I) or this clause as a Covid restrictions extension period for the purposes of a claim under this section in respect of the relevant business activity concerned, a period of 3 weeks from the date on which the restart week commences, and

(III) in all other cases, a period of one week from the date on which the restart week commences.”.

(2) Subsection (1) shall be deemed to have come into operation—

(a) as respects paragraphs (a) to (c) thereof, on 1 April 2021, and

(b) as respects paragraphs (d) and (e) thereof, on 29 April 2021.