Finance Act, 2000

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Amendment of section 153 (distributions to certain non-residents) of Principal Act.

31.—As respects distributions made on or after 6 April 2000, section 153 (as amended by the Finance Act, 1999 ) of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (1), by the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “non-resident person”:

“ ‘qualifying non-resident person’, in relation to a distribution, means the person beneficially entitled to the distribution, being—

(a) a person, other than a company, who—

(i) is neither resident nor ordinarily resident in the State, and

(ii) is, by virtue of the law of a relevant territory, resident for the purposes of tax in the relevant territory,

or

(b) a company which is not resident in the State and—

(i) is, by virtue of the law of a relevant territory, resident for the purposes of tax in the relevant territory, but is not under the control, whether directly or indirectly, of a person or persons who is or are resident in the State,

(ii) is under the control, whether directly or indirectly, of a person or persons who, by virtue of the law of a relevant territory, is or are resident for the purposes of tax in the relevant territory and who is or are, as the case may be, not under the control, whether directly or indirectly, of a person who is, or persons who are, not so resident, or

(iii) the principal class of the shares of which, or—

(I) where the company is a 75 per cent subsidiary of another company, of that other company, or

(II) where the company is wholly-owned by 2 or more companies, of each of those companies,

is substantially and regularly traded on one or more than one recognised stock exchange in a relevant territory or territories or on such other stock exchange as may be approved of by the Minister for Finance for the purposes of this section;”,

(b) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1):

“(1A) For the purposes of paragraph (b)(i) of the definition of ‘qualifying non-resident person’, ‘control’ shall be construed in accordance with subsections (2) to (6) of section 432 as if in subsection (6) of that section for ‘5 or fewer participators’ there were substituted ‘persons resident in the State’.”,

(c) in subsection (2), by the substitution of “paragraph (b)(ii) of the definition of ‘qualifying non-resident person’ ” for “paragraph (b)(i) of the definition of ‘non-resident person’ ”,

(d) in subsection (3)—

(i) by the substitution of “paragraph (b)(iii)(I) of the definition of qualifying non-resident person’ ” for “paragraph (b)(ii)(II) of the definition of ‘non-resident person’ ”, and

(ii) by the deletion of “subparagraph (iii) of”,

(e) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (3):

“(3A) For the purposes of paragraph (b)(iii)(II) of the definition of ‘qualifying non-resident person’, a company (in this subsection referred to as an ‘aggregated 100 per cent subsidiary’) shall be treated as being wholly-owned by 2 or more companies (in this subsection referred to as the ‘joint parent companies’) if and so long as 100 per cent of its ordinary share capital is owned directly or indirectly by the joint parent companies, and for the purposes of this subsection—

(a) subsections (2) to (10) of section 9 shall apply as those subsections apply for the purposes of that section, and

(b) sections 412 to 418 shall apply with any necessary modifications as those sections would apply for the purposes of Chapter 5 of Part 12 if—

(i) section 411(1)(c) were deleted, and

(ii) the following subsection were substituted for subsection (1) of section 412:

‘(1) Notwithstanding that at any time a company is an aggregated 100 per cent subsidiary (within the meaning assigned by section 153(3A)) of the joint parent companies (within the meaning so assigned), it shall not be treated at that time as such a subsidiary unless additionally at that time—

(a) the joint parent companies are between them beneficially entitled to not less than 100 per cent of any profits available for distribution to equity holders of the company, and

(b) the joint parent companies would be beneficially entitled between them to not less than 100 per cent of any assets of the company available for distribution to its equity holders on a winding-up.’.”,

(f) in subsection (4), by the substitution of “qualifying non-resident person” for “non-resident person”, and

(g) by the addition of the following subsection after subsection (5):

“(6) Where for any year of assessment the income of a person, being an individual who for that year of assessment is neither resident nor ordinarily resident in the State but is not a qualifying non-resident person, includes an amount in respect of a distribution made by a company resident in the State, then—

(a) notwithstanding section 15(2), income tax shall not be chargeable in respect of that distribution at a rate in excess of the standard rate, and

(b) the amount or value of the distribution shall be treated for the purposes of sections 237 and 238 as not brought into charge to income tax.”.