Finance Act, 1989

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Relief for expenditure on certain buildings in designated areas.

4.—(1) (a) In this section—

“authorised person” means—

(i) an inspector or other officer of the Revenue Commissioners authorised by them in writing for the purposes of this section, or

(ii) a person nominated by the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, authorised by them in writing for the purposes of this section;

“designated area” has, subject to section 27 of the Finance Act, 1987 , the meaning assigned by section 41 of the Finance Act, 1986 ;

“owner”, in relation to a building, includes an individual entitled to acquire the fee simple in a dwellinghouse under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) (No. 2) Act, 1978, and references to “owns” and “owner-occupied”, in relation to a building, shall be construed accordingly;

“qualifying building” means a building the site of which is wholly within a designated area and which, on application to the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland in that behalf by the individual who owns the building, is determined by those Commissioners to be a building which is of significant scientific, historical, architectural or aesthetic interest;

“qualifying owner-occupied dwelling”, in relation to an individual, means a qualifying building which is either—

(i) used at the time the relevant expenditure is incurred, or

(ii) first used after the relevant expenditure has been incurred,

by him as his sole or main residence;

“qualifying period” means the period commencing on the date of the passing of this Act and ending on the 31st day of May, 1991;

“relevant expenditure”, in relation to an individual, means the amount of the expenditure incurred, during the qualifying period, by the individual in respect of any work of repair or restoration, or maintenance in the nature of repair or restoration, which is consistent with the original character or fabric of the building and is carried out on a qualifying owner-occupied dwelling of the individual.

(b) For the purposes of this section, so much of any expenditure as is equal to any sum received, or to be received, directly or indirectly in respect of or by reference to that expenditure, or in respect of or by reference to the qualifying building or the work to which it relates, by the individual making a claim in respect of that expenditure under subsection (2) from the state, a public or local authority or any other person or under any contract of insurance or by way of compensation or otherwise shall not be regarded as having been incurred.

(c) (i) Where relevant expenditure in relation to a qualifying building in incurred by two or more individuals, each of those individuals shall be treated as having incurred only so much of the expenditure as the inspector, to the best of his knowledge and judgment, considers to be just and reasonable and the expenditure shall be apportioned accordingly.

(ii) An apportionment made under subparagraph (i) may be amended by the Appeal Commissioners or by the Circuit Court on the hearing, or the rehearing, of an appeal against any relief granted on the basis of the apportionment.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, where an individual, having made a claim in that behalf, proves that he has incurred relevant expenditure in a year of assessment, he shall be entitled for that year of assessment to have a deduction made from his total income of an amount equal to 25 per cent. of the amount of the relevant expenditure and, in each of the five immediately subsequent years of assessment, to a like deduction equal to 5 per cent. of such relevant expenditure.

(3) No relief shall be allowed under this section for expenditure in respect of which relief may be claimed under any other provision of the Income Tax Acts.

(4) (a) Where the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland have made a determination that a building is a qualifying building and subsequently, by reason of any alteration made or to be made to the building, they consider that the building is, or will be, no longer a building which is of significant scientific, historical, architectural or aesthetic interest, they shall—

(i) by notice in writing given to the owner of the building, revoke the determination, and

(ii) notify the Revenue Commissioners of the revocation and the date thereof.

(b) If relief has been given under this section to an individual in respect of relevant expenditure incurred in relation to a building which has had a determination revoked in accordance with paragraph (a), that relief shall, where that individual has caused the alteration to be made, be withdrawn and there shall be made on the individual all such assessments or additional assessments as are necessary to give effect to the provisions of this subsection.

(5) (a) Where an individual makes a claim under subsection (2), an authorised person may, at any reasonable time, enter the qualifying building in respect of which the relevant expenditure has been incurred for the purpose of inspecting the building or the work in respect of which the expenditure to which the claim relates was incurred.

(b) Whenever an authorised person exercises any power conferred on him by this subsection, he shall, on request, produce his authorisation for the purposes of this section to any person concerned.

(c) Any person who obstructs or interferes with an authorised person in the course of exercising a power conferred on him by this subsection shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £500.

(6) Any claim for relief under this section shall—

(a) be made in such form as the Revenue Commissioners may from time to time prescribe, and

(b) be accompanied by such statements in writing as regards the expenditure for which the relief is claimed, including statements by persons to whom payments were made, as may be indicated by the prescribed form.

(7) All such provisions of the Income Tax Acts as apply in relation to the deductions specified in sections 138 to 143 of the Income Tax Act, 1967, shall, with any necessary modifications, apply in relation to deductions under this section.

(8) Section 198 (1) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1980 ) of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , is hereby amended by the addition to paragraph (a) of the following subparagraph after subparagraph (xi) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1986 ):

“(xii) so far as it flows from relief under section 4 of the Finance Act, 1989, in the proportions in which they incurred the expenditure giving rise to the relief,”.