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21 1969

FINANCE ACT, 1969

PART I

Income Tax

Income tax and sur-tax for the year 1969-70.

1. —(1) Income tax shall be charged for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1969, at the rate of seven shillings in the pound.

(2) Sur-tax for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1969, shall be charged in respect of the income of any individual the total of which from all sources exceeds two thousand five hundred pounds and shall be so charged at the same rates as those at which it is charged for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1968.

Exemption of certain earnings of writers, composers and artists.

2. —(1) In this section “a work” means an original and creative work, whether written, composed or executed, as the case may be, before or after the passing of this Act, which falls into one of the following categories—

(a) a book or other writing;

(b) a play;

(c) a musical composition;

(d) a painting or other like picture;

(e) a sculpture.

(2) (a) This section applies to an individual—

(i) who is resident in the State and is not resident elsewhere, and

(ii) (I) who is determined by the Revenue Commissioners, after consideration of any evidence in relation to the matter which the individual submits to them and after such consultation (if any) as may seem to them to be necessary with such person or body of persons as in their opinion may be of assistance to them, to have written, composed or executed, as the case may be, either solely or jointly with another individual, a work or works generally recognised as having cultural or artistic merit, or

(II) who has written, composed or executed, as the case may be, either solely or jointly with another individual, a particular work which the Revenue Commissioners, after consideration of the work and of any evidence in relation to the matter which the individual submits to them and after such consultation (if any) as may seem to them to be necessary with such person or body of persons as in their opinion may be of assistance to them, determine to be a work having cultural or artistic merit.

(b) The Revenue Commissioners shall not make a determination under this subsection unless—

(i) the individual concerned duly makes a claim to the Revenue Commissioners for the determination, being, where the determination is sought under paragraph (a) (ii) (II), a claim made after the publication, production or sale, as the case may be, of the work in relation to which it is sought, and

(ii) the individual complies with any request to him under subsection (4).

(3) (a) An individual to whom this section applies and who duly makes a claim to the Revenue Commissioners in that behalf shall, subject to paragraph (b), be entitled to have the profits or gains arising to him from the publication, production or sale, as the case may be, of a work or works in relation to which the Revenue Commissioners have made a determination under clause (I) or (II) of subsection (2) (a) (ii), or of a work of his in the same category as that work, and which would, apart from this section, fall to be included in an assessment made on him under Case II of Schedule D, disregarded for all purposes of the Income Tax Acts.

(b) The exemption authorised by this section shall not apply for any year of assessment prior to the year of assessment in which the individual concerned makes a claim under clause (I) or (II) of subsection (2) (a) (ii) in respect of which the Revenue Commissioners make such a determination as is referred to in the said clause (I) or (II), as the case may be.

(c) The relief provided by this section may be given by repayment or otherwise.

(4) (a) Where an individual makes a claim to which subsection (2) (a) (ii) (I) relates, the Revenue Commissioners may serve on him a notice or notices in writing requesting him to furnish to them within such period as may be specified in the notice or notices such information, books, documents or other evidence as may appear to them to be necessary for the purposes of a determination under the said subsection (2) (a) (ii) (I).

(b) Where an individual makes a claim to which subsection (2) (a) (ii) (II) relates, he shall—

(i) in the case of a book or other writing or a play or musical composition, if the Revenue Commissioners so request, furnish to them three copies, and

(ii) in the case of a painting or other like picture or a sculpture, if the Revenue Commissioners so request, provide, or arrange for the provision of, such facilities as the Revenue Commissioners may consider necessary for the purposes of a determination under the said subsection (2) (a), (ii) (II) (including any requisite permissions or consents of the person who owns or has in his possession the painting, picture or sculpture).

(5) The Revenue Commissioners may serve on an individual who makes a claim under subsection (3) a notice or notices in writing requiring him to make available within such time as may be specified in the notice all such books, accounts and documents in his possession or power as may be requested, being books, accounts and documents relating to the publication, production or sale, as the case may be, of the work in respect of the profits or gains of which exemption is claimed.

(6) For the purpose of arriving at the amount of the profits or gains to be disregarded under this section for all purposes of the Income Tax Acts, the Revenue Commissioners may make such apportionment of receipts and expenses as may be necessary.

(7) Notwithstanding any exemption provided by this section, the provisions of the Income Tax Acts as regards the making by the individual of a return of his total income shall apply as if the exemption had not been authorised.

Employed person taking care of incapacitated individual.

3. —(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, an individual who, in the manner prescribed by the Income Tax Acts makes a claim in that behalf, makes a return in the prescribed form of his total income and proves—

(a) (i) that, throughout the year of assessment, he was totally incapacitated by physical or mental infirmity, or

(ii) that, being a married man, his wife was, throughout the year of assessment, totally incapacitated by physical or mental infirmity, and

(b) that for the year of assessment he has employed a person for the purpose of having the care of the person (being the individual or his wife) who is so incapacitated,

shall, in computing the amount of his taxable income, be entitled to have a deduction of £100 made from his assessable income.

(2) No more than one deduction shall be allowed under this section to any claimant for any year.

(3) (a) The provisions of sections 146 and 149 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , shall apply to a deduction under this section as they apply to any allowance, deduction or relief under sections 134 to 145 of that Act.

(b) The provisions of Schedule 4 to the Income Tax Act, 1967 , and of paragraph IX of Schedule 18 to that Act shall, with any necessary modifications, apply in relation to a deduction under this section.

(4) Where for any year of assessment a deduction is allowed to an individual under this section in respect of an employed person, the individual shall not be entitled to a deduction in respect of that person under section 141 or 142 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 .

(5) Section 153 (1) (d) of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , is hereby amended by the insertion after “1967” of “, and section 3 of the Finance Act, 1969,”.

(6) Section 193 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , is hereby amended—

(a) by the insertion in subsection (2) after paragraph (c) of the following paragraph:

“(cc) so far as it flows from relief under section 3 of the Finance Act, 1969, in the proportions in which they bear the cost of employing the person in respect of whom the relief is given,”; and

(b) by the addition at the end of subsection (6) of “or under section 3 of the Finance Act, 1969”.

(7) Section 497 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , is hereby amended by the insertion after “sections 138 to 143” of “or under section 3 of the Finance Act, 1969,”.

(8) Section 523 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution in subsection (1) (a) of “, 142 and section 3 of the Finance Act, 1969” for “and 142”; and

(b) by the addition at the end of subsection (3) (b) (i) of “and by treating any amount included in a deduction under the said paragraph (a) in respect of relief under section 3 of the Finance Act, 1969, as reducing the income of the husband or the wife according as he or she bears the cost of employing the person in respect of whom the relief is given”.

Deductions in respect of decimalised machinery or plant.

4. —(1) In this section—

conversion”, in relation to machinery or plant, means any conversion or adaptation of the machinery or plant which is made because of the introduction in the State of a system of decimal currency;

decimalised machinery or plant” means machinery or plant—

(a) which before the 6th day of April, 1971, is provided for use in any area other than an undeveloped area for the purposes of a trade or profession and which, at the time it is so provided, is unused and not secondhand,

(b) which is of a kind which is so provided because of the introduction in the State of a system of decimal currency, and

(c) which is not so provided for use in the manufacture of machinery or plant;

undeveloped area” has the same meaning as in the Undeveloped Areas Act, 1952 .

(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, where for any year of assessment a deduction falls to be allowed under section 241 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , for wear and tear of any decimalised machinery or plant, the deduction shall, subject to subsection (6) of that section, be increased by such amount as is specified by the person to whom the deduction is to be allowed in making his claim for the deduction; and, in relation to a case in which this subsection has had effect, any reference in the Income Tax Acts to a deduction allowed under the said section 241 shall be construed as a reference to that deduction as increased under this subsection.

(3) Subsection (2) shall not apply to decimalised machinery or plant which is let to a person on the terms mentioned in section 241 (2) of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , unless the contract of letting provides that the person shall or may become the owner of the machinery or plant on the performance of the contract; and where the contract so provides, if the person ceases to be entitled (otherwise than on his death) to the benefit of the contract so far as it relates to the machinery or plant, but without having become the owner of the machinery or plant, subsection (2) shall be deemed not to have applied in relation to the machinery or plant, and, accordingly, there shall be made all such additional assessments and adjustments of assessments as may be appropriate.

(4) Where for any year of assessment the deduction under section 241 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , for wear and tear of any machinery or plant is increased under this section, no allowance under Chapter I of Part XV of the said Act shall be made in relation to the machinery or plant for that or any subsequent year of assessment.

(5) Where before the 6th day of April, 1971, a person carrying on a trade or profession incurs expenditure on the conversion of machinery or plant which is in use for the purposes of the trade or profession and is not in use for the purpose of manufacturing machinery or plant, the amount of the said expenditure shall (if not otherwise so allowable) be allowable as a deduction in computing for the purposes of income tax the profits or gains or losses of the trade or profession, and, where it is so allowed, shall not be regarded as capital expenditure for any of the purposes of the Income Tax Acts.

Income of foreign life assurance fund.

5. —(1) Section 76 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , is hereby amended by the insertion, after subsection (6), of the following subsections:

“(7) Where—

(a) any securities issued by the Minister for Finance with a condition in the terms specified in section 464, or

(b) any stocks or other securities to which section 474 applies and which are issued with either or both of the conditions specified in subsection (2) of that section,

for the time being form part of the investments of the foreign life assurance fund of an assurance company, the income arising from any of those stocks or securities, if applied for the purposes of that fund or reinvested so as to form part of that fund, shall not be liable to tax.

(8) Where the Revenue Commissioners are satisfied that any income arising from the investments of the foreign life assurance fund of an assurance company has been remitted to the State and invested, as part of the investments of that fund, in any stocks or securities issued as aforesaid, that income shall not be liable to tax and any tax paid thereon shall, if necessary, be repaid to the company.”.

(2) Where an assurance company having its head office in the State carries on business in Northern Ireland or Great Britain and under provisions of the law therein corresponding with section 237 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , exemption from income tax is allowable in respect of income from investments and deposits referable to pension annuity business, section 76 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , shall apply in relation to the income as if paragraphs 1 (1) and 2 of Part III of the Sixth Schedule to that Act did not have effect.

(3) Paragraph 1 (2) of Part III of the said Schedule shall have effect subject to subsection (2) of this section.

(4) Section 214 (5) of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , shall apply as if the reference therein to income included a reference to income relieved from tax under this section.

(5) Section 237 (3) of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , is hereby amended by the substitution of “subsection (3), (7) or (8) of section 76” for “section 76 (3)”.

Making of assessments for years prior to 1963-64.

6. —(1) Where, after the passing of this Act, an assessment for the year 1962-63 or any earlier year of assessment falls to be made—

(a) under Schedule A or Schedule B in accordance with section 3 (1) of the Finance Act, 1929 , or

(b) under Schedule D or Schedule E in accordance with section 9 (1) of the Finance Act, 1944 ,

any such assessment may be made as if the repeal of paragraph (b) of the said section 3 (1) and the said section 9 (1) by section 104 (2) of and the Sixth Schedule to the Finance Act, 1963 , had effect in relation to the making of assessments for the year 1962-63 or any earlier year of assessment as it has effect in relation to the making of assessments for the year 1963-64 or any later year of assessment.

(2) Where, after the passing of this Act, two or more assessments for the year 1962-63 or any earlier year of assessment fall to be made on a person under Schedule A, B, D or E or under any two or more of those Schedules, the provisions of section 183 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , shall apply to such assessments as they apply in relation to assessments for the year 1963-64 or any later year of assessment.

Amendment of section 12 of Finance Act, 1967.

7. Section 12 (2) of the Finance Act, 1967 , is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution in paragraph (b) (i) of “£500” for “£300”,

(b) by the substitution in paragraph (b) (ii) of “£500-£450” for “£300-£250”, and

(c) by the addition of the following new paragraph—

“(c) Where an individual, having made a claim in that behalf and having made a return in the prescribed form of his total income, proves that in the year of assessment he defrayed health expenses which were incurred for the provision of health care for qualified persons and which amount in the aggregate to more than £100, but excluding from the computation of that aggregate any such expenses in excess of £500 for any one qualified person, he shall be entitled, for the purpose of ascertaining the amount of the income on which he is to be charged to income tax, to have a deduction of the amount by which the aggregate of the health expenses so computed exceeds £100 made from his assessable income and such deduction shall be in substitution for and not in addition to a deduction under paragraph (a).”.

Amendment of section 125 of Income Tax Act, 1967.

8. Section 125 (a) of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , is hereby amended by the addition of—

“not being emoluments of an employee arising from an office under or employment with the Bank of Ireland which he commences to hold on or after the date on which the business of the National Bank of Ireland Limited and the Hibernian Bank, Limited is transferred to the Bank of Ireland”.

Amendment of section 138 of Income Tax Act, 1967.

9. Section 138 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution in subsection (1) of “£424” for “£394”, in each place where it occurs, of “£249” for “£234” and of “£524” for “£494”; and

(b) by the substitution in subsection (2) of “£249” for “£234” in both places where it occurs and of “£274” for “£259”.

Amendment of section 141 of Income Tax Act, 1967.

10. Section 141 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , is hereby amended by the substitution of the following subsections for subsection (1):

“(1) If the claimant proves that he has living at any time during the year of assessment any child—

(a) who is under the age of 16 years, or

(b) who, if over the age of 16 years at the commencement of that year—

(i) is receiving full-time instruction at any university, college, school or other educational establishment, or

(ii) is permanently incapacitated by reason of mental or physical infirmity from maintaining himself and had become so permanently incapacitated before he had attained the age of 21 years or had become so permanently incapacitated after attaining the age of 21 years but while he had been in receipt of full-time instruction as aforesaid,

he shall, subject to the provisions of this section, be entitled in respect of each such child to the deduction specified in the next succeeding subsection.

(1A) The deduction referred to in subsection (1) shall be:

(a) in the case of a child to whom paragraph (a) of that subsection applies and who is shown by the claimant to have been over the age of 11 years at the commencement of the year of assessment, £150, and in the case of any other such child, £135:

Provided that all but one of the deductions to be given under subsections (1) and (2) in respect of children for whom the claimant is, or would on due application be, entitled throughout the year of assessment to a children's allowance shall be reduced by £10 each for the year 1969-70 and by £15 each for any subsequent year,

(b) in the case of a child to whom subsection (1) (b) (i) applies, £150,

(c) in the case of a child to whom subsection (1) (b) (ii) applies and who is wholly or partly maintained by the claimant at his own expense, £150 if the amount expended by the claimant in the year of assessment on the maintenance of the child is not less than £150, and, where the amount so expended is less than £150, that amount:

Provided that—

(i) any deduction under subsection (1) (b) (ii) shall be in substitution for, and not in addition to, any deduction to which the claimant might be entitled in respect of the child under section 142; and

(ii) a claimant shall not be entitled to more than one deduction under subsection (1) in respect of the same child.

(1B) In the preceding provisions of this section—

child’ includes a stepchild and an illegitimate child whose parents have married each other after his birth and a child in respect of whom an adoption order under the Adoption Act, 1952 , is in force:

children's allowance’ means an allowance under the Social Welfare (Children's Allowances) Acts, 1944 to 1966.”.

Amendment of section 142 of Income Tax Act, 1967.

11. Section 142 (1) of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , is hereby amended by the substitution of “£256” for “£200” in both places where it occurs and by the substitution of “£196” for “£140”.

Amendment of section 157 of Income Tax Act, 1967.

12. —The following paragraph is substituted for paragraph (c) of section 157 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 :

“(c) all other interest, annuities, and dividends, and salaries and pensions payable by the Bank other than salaries and pensions payable to persons who commence to hold an office under or employment with the Bank on or after the date on which the business of the National Bank of Ireland Limited and the Hibernian Bank, Limited is transferred to the Bank; and”.

Amendment of section 193 of Income Tax Act, 1967.

13. Section 193 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , is hereby amended by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (2) :

“(2A) For the purposes of paragraphs (c) and (f) of subsection (2), the benefit flowing from the aggregate of the deductions allowable under subsections (1) and (2) of section 141 to which the proviso to section 141 (1A) (a) applies shall be allocated as if each such deduction amounted to the said aggregate divided by the number of such deductions.”.

Amendment of section 246 of Income Tax Act, 1967.

14. Section 246 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , is hereby amended by the insertion after subsection (1) of the following subsection :

“(1A) (a) A shipping investment allowance shall not be made under subsection (1) in respect of any capital expenditure (whether incurred before or after the passing of the Finance Act, 1969) which is taken into account for the purposes of any grant made towards that expenditure by the Minister for Transport and Power under the Shipping Investment Grants Act, 1969 .

(b) Where a shipping investment allowance has been made under subsection (1) in respect of capital expenditure which is taken into account for the purposes of such a grant as is mentioned in paragraph (a), the shipping investment allowance shall be withdrawn and all such additional assessments and adjustments of assessments shall be made as may be necessary as a consequence of the withdrawal of a shipping investment allowance or the substitution therefor of an initial allowance under Chapter I of Part XV.”.

Amendment of section 374 of Income Tax Act, 1967.

15. Section 374 (2) of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , is hereby amended by the substitution of “5th day of April, 1990” for “expiration of the period of twenty-five years from the 25th day of November, 1958”.

Amendment of section 402 of Income Tax Act, 1967,

16. Section 402 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , is hereby amended by—

(a) the substitution, except in relation to section 405 of that Act, of “fifteen” for “ten” in each place where it occurs, and

(b) the substitution of “1990-91” for “1980-81” in paragraph (a) of the proviso.

Amendment of section 523 of Income Tax Act, 1967.

17. Section 523 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , is hereby amended by the addition of the following subsection—

“(5) for the purposes of subparagraph (i) and (ii) of subsection (3) (b), the relief from sur-tax resulting from aggregate of the deductions allowable under subsections (1) and (2) of section 141 to which the proviso to subsection 141 (1A) (a) applies shall be divided as if each such deduction amounted to the said aggregate divided by the number of such deductions.”.