Finance Act 2021
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Amendment of section 118 of Principal Act (benefits in kind: general charging provision) | ||
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7. (1) Section 118 of the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following subsections after subsection (5H): | ||
“(5I) (a) Subject to paragraph (b), subsection (1) shall not apply to expense incurred by the body corporate in or in connection with the provision for a director or employee of a qualifying medical check-up, where— | ||
(i) qualifying medical check-ups are made available generally by the body corporate to all directors and employees of that body corporate, or | ||
(ii) the director or employee is required by the terms of his or her office or employment to undergo the qualifying medical check-up. | ||
(b) A director or employee shall not, by virtue of this subsection, be relieved from a charge to income tax under subsection (1) more than once in any year of assessment, unless subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (a) applies. | ||
(c) In this subsection— | ||
‘medical practitioner’ means a person who is registered in the register established under section 43 of the Medical Practitioners Act 2007 ; | ||
‘qualifying medical check-up’ means a medical examination carried out by a medical practitioner to test a person’s state of health. | ||
(5J) (a) Subsection (1) shall not apply to health expenses incurred by the body corporate in or in connection with the provision for a director or employee of health care, where health care is made available generally by the body corporate to all directors and employees of that body corporate. | ||
(b) In this subsection, ‘health care’ and ‘health expenses’ have the same meanings respectively as they have in section 469. | ||
(5K) (a) Subsection (1) shall not apply to expense incurred by the body corporate in or in connection with the provision for a director or employee of a Covid-19 test where— | ||
(i) the test is necessary for the performance of the duties of the office or employment of the director or employee, and | ||
(ii) Covid-19 tests are made available by the body corporate to all directors and employees of that body corporate where necessary for the performance of the duties of the office or employment of those directors and employees. | ||
(b) In this subsection— | ||
‘Covid-19’ means a disease caused by infection with the virus SARS-CoV-2 and specified as an infectious disease in accordance with Regulation 6 of, and the Schedule to, the Infectious Diseases Regulations 1981 ( S.I. No. 390 of 1981 ) or any variant of the disease so specified as an infectious disease in those Regulations; | ||
‘Covid-19 test’ means a relevant test, administered in accordance with the instructions of the manufacturer of the test, the purpose of which is to detect the presence of Covid-19 in the person to whom the test is administered; | ||
‘rapid antigen test’ means a test that relies on detection of viral proteins (antigens) using a lateral flow immunoassay that gives results in less than 30 minutes; | ||
‘relevant test’ means— | ||
(a) an RT-PCR test, | ||
(b) a rapid antigen test of a kind— | ||
(i) included, for the time being, in the common list of Covid-19 rapid antigen tests agreed in accordance with the Council Recommendation of 21 January 20211 , and | ||
(ii) that complies with the requirements of Directive 98/79/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 October 19982 or, as appropriate, Regulation (EU) 2017/746 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 20173 , | ||
or | ||
(c) a rapid antigen test of a kind that complies with regulatory requirements under the laws of a state other than a Member State that are equivalent to the requirements referred to in paragraph (b)(ii); | ||
‘RT-PCR test’ means a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test. | ||
(5L) (a) Subsection (1) shall not apply to expense incurred by the body corporate, or incurred by a director or employee and reimbursed by the body corporate, in or in connection with the provision for a director or employee of an influenza vaccine, where influenza vaccines are made available generally by the body corporate to all directors and employees of that body corporate. | ||
(b) In this subsection, ‘influenza vaccine’ means an influenza vaccine specified in column 1 of the Eighth Schedule to the Medicinal Products (Prescription and Control of Supply) Regulations 2003 ( S.I. No. 540 of 2003 ) and administered in accordance with the requirements specified in columns 2 to 6 of that Schedule opposite the mention of the product concerned. | ||
(c) Relief shall not be given under section 469 in respect of the expense referred to in paragraph (a) incurred by a director or employee and reimbursed by the body corporate.”. | ||
(2) Subsection (1) shall be deemed to have come into operation on 1 January 2021. | ||