Finance Act 2024

• Permanent Page URL

Exemption for certain sporting national governing bodies

19. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 235:

“235A. (1) In this section—

‘appropriate tax’, ‘deposit’, ‘relevant deposit taker’ and ‘relevant interest’ have the same meaning, respectively, as they have in Chapter 4 of Part 8;

‘disability’, in relation to an individual, means a substantial restriction in the capacity of the individual—

(a) to carry on a profession, business or occupation in the State, or

(b) to participate in social or cultural life in the State by reason of an enduring physical, sensory, mental health or intellectual impairment;

‘elite athlete’ means an individual who—

(a) is in receipt of financial support provided by Sport Ireland under the scheme commonly known as the Sport Ireland International Carding Scheme, or

(b) competes at a senior level, and is a participant, in a high performance training programme of a relevant national governing body in respect of which programme the body receives, from Sport Ireland, financial support commonly known as the Sport Ireland High Performance Programme Funding;

‘maximum amount’ means €100,000,000;

‘Minister’ means the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media;

‘relevant national governing body’ means a body which—

(a) is Olympic Federation of Ireland, Paralympics Ireland or recognised by Sport Ireland as a national governing body for a sport,

(b) is listed as a ‘Type C’ organisation on the register maintained and published by Sport Ireland and known as the Register of Organisations in Compliance with the Governance Code for Sport,

(c) is approved under subsection (4) for the purposes of this section by the Minister,

(d) has been issued with a tax clearance certificate in accordance with section 1095 and such tax clearance certificate has not been rescinded under subsection (3A) of that section, and

(e) is an approved body of persons;

‘qualifying project’, in relation to a relevant national governing body, means one or more of the following:

(a) the purchase, construction or refurbishment of a building or structure, or part of a building or structure, to be used for sporting or recreation activities;

(b) the purchase of land to be used in the provision of sporting or recreation facilities;

(c) the purchase of permanently based equipment (excluding personal equipment) for use in the provision of sporting or recreation facilities;

(d) the improvement of playing pitches, surfaces or facilities;

(e) the repayment of, or the payment of interest on, money borrowed by a relevant national governing body on or after 1 January 2025 for any of the purposes referred to in paragraphs (a) to (d);

(f) the purchase of sports equipment approved by the Minister as eligible for funding under the fund commonly known as the Community Sports Facilities Fund and that equipment is used for sporting or recreation activities;

(g) measures to support elite athletes in achieving excellence in competitive sport;

(h) measures which form part of a programme of a relevant national governing body commonly known as a Women in Sport programme in respect of which programme the body receives, from Sport Ireland, financial support commonly known as the Sport Ireland Women in Sport Programme Funding;

(i) measures which enable the participation in sport of persons with a disability, and which form part of a programme of a relevant national governing body in respect of which programme the body receives, from Sport Ireland, financial support commonly known as the Sport Ireland Core Funding or Sport Ireland Field Sport Funding.

(2) (a) Subject to paragraphs (b) and (c), exemption from income tax or, as the case may be, corporation tax shall apply to so much of the income of a relevant national governing body as is applied to a qualifying project before the end of the tenth year of assessment after the year of assessment in which the income was received.

(b) The exemption under paragraph (a) shall not apply to any part of the income of a relevant national governing body which is used to purchase immovable property in or outside the State, either directly or through a company, which property is not used for sporting purposes.

(c) Where a relevant national governing body has accumulated income in excess of the maximum amount, no exemption under paragraph (a) shall be given for the income in excess of that amount.

(3) (a) Notwithstanding the generality of section 235, and subject to subsection (2), where income of a relevant national governing body is placed on deposit with a relevant deposit taker, so much of any relevant interest as is—

(i) paid to a relevant national governing body, and

(ii) applied to a qualifying project,

shall be exempt from income tax or, as the case may be, corporation tax.

(b) Notwithstanding section 261(b), repayment of the appropriate tax in respect of so much of any relevant interest as is exempt from tax under paragraph (a) shall be made to the relevant national governing body.

(4) The Minister, on the making of an application by a body which satisfies the conditions specified in paragraph (a) to (e) of the definition in subsection (1) of ‘relevant national governing body’, may approve the body as a relevant national governing body for the purposes of this section.

(5) (a) The Minister, on the making of an application by a relevant national governing body, may give a certificate to the body stating that a project may be treated as a qualifying project for the purposes of this section.

(b) An application under this subsection shall be in such form and contain such information as the Minister may direct.

(c) The Minister may, by notice in writing given to the body, revoke the certificate given in respect of a project under paragraph (a), and the project shall cease to be a qualifying project as respects any income applied to the project after the date of the notice.”.