PART X

Miscellaneous

60. —(1) Where an Inland Revenue affidavit has been delivered to the Commissioners and they are satisfied—

(a) that an adequate payment on account of inheritance tax in respect of the property passing under the deceased person's will or intestacy or Part IX or section 56 of the Succession Act, 1965 , has been made; or

(b) that the payment of inheritance tax in respect of such property may be deferred for the time being,

they shall certify in writing—

(i) that the Inland Revenue affidavit was delivered to them; and

(ii) (I) that a payment referred to in paragraph (a) has been made; or

(II) that the payment referred to in paragraph (b) has been deferred for the time being,

as the case may be.

(2) In this section “Inland Revenue affidavit” has the meaning referred to in section 38 (1).

(3) If, in the opinion of the Commissioners, the payment of inheritance tax in respect of the property passing under the deceased person's will or intestacy or Part IX or section 56 of the Succession Act, 1965 , cannot be deferred for the time being without serious risk of such tax not being recovered, they may refuse to issue the certificate referred to in subsection (1) until the tax has been paid, or until such payment as is referred to in paragraph (a) of that subsection has been made.

(4) The certificate required by section 30 of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1881, to be made by the proper officer of the court, shall not be made until a certificate of the Commissioners issued under subsection (1) has been produced to such officer and shall (instead of showing that the affidavit, if liable to stamp duty, has been duly stamped) show that the Commissioners have issued a certificate under subsection (1) and shall state the substance of the certificate so issued by the Commissioners.

(5) The form of certificate required to be given by the proper officer of the court under section 30 of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1881, may be prescribed by rule of court in such manner as may be necessary for giving effect to this Act.

(6) This section shall apply only where the deceased person dies on or after the 1st day of April, 1975.

61. —(1) Where, either before or after the passing of this Act, a sum of money exceeding £5,000 is lodged or deposited (otherwise than on a current account) in the State with a banker, in the joint names of two or more persons, and one of such persons (in this section referred to as the deceased) dies on or after the 1st day of April, 1975, the banker shall not pay such money or any part thereof to the survivor or all or any of the survivors of such persons, or to any other person, unless or until there is furnished to such banker a certificate by the Commissioners certifying that there is no outstanding claim for inheritance tax in connection with the death of the deceased in respect of such money or any part thereof or a consent in writing by the Commissioners to such payment pending the ascertainment and payment of such tax.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, tax chargeable on the death of the deceased shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to become due on the day of the death of the deceased.

(3) A banker who, after the passing of this Act, pays money in contravention of this section shall be liable to a penalty of £1,000.

(4) Where a penalty is demanded of a banker under this section, the onus of proving that such certificate or such consent as is mentioned in this section was furnished to such banker before he paid such money shall lie on such banker.

(5) Where a penalty is demanded of a banker under this section, it shall be a good defence to prove that, at the time when such banker paid such money, he had reasonable ground for believing that none of the persons in whose joint names such money was lodged or deposited with him was dead.

(6) Section 33 of the Finance Act, 1935 , shall not have effect in any case where the death of a person, referred to in that section as the deceased, occurs on or after the 1st day of April, 1975.

(7) In this section—

“banker” means a person who carries on banking business in the State and includes a friendly society, an industrial and provident society, a building society, the Post Office Savings Bank, a trustee savings bank, the Industrial Credit Company Limited, the Agricultural Credit Corporation Limited and any person with whom money is lodged or deposited;

“pay” includes transfer in the books of a banker and any dealings whatsoever with any moneys which were lodged or deposited in the name of a person who died after the time of the lodgment or deposit and any other person or persons;

“current account” means an account which is customarily operated upon by means of a cheque or banker's order;

“banking business” has the meaning assigned to it by section 2 of the Central Bank Act, 1971 ;

references to moneys lodged or deposited include references to shares of a building society, friendly society or industrial and provident society.

62. —Where any suit is pending in any court for the administration of any property chargeable with tax under this Act, such court shall provide, out of any such property which may be in the possession or control of the court, for the payment to the Commissioners of any of the tax or the interest thereon which remains unpaid.

63. —(1) (a) Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with—

(i) any requirement under section 36 (6), (7) or (8); or

(ii) the provisions of section 36 (2) or (9)

shall be liable to a penalty of £500.

(b) Where the contravention or failure referred to in paragraph (a) continues after judgment has been given by the court before which proceedings for the penalty have been commenced, the person concerned shall be liable to a further penalty of £25 for each day on which the contravention or failure so continues.

(2) Where, under, or for the purposes of, any of the provisions of this Act, a person is authorised to inspect any property for the purpose of reporting to the Commissioners the market value thereof and the person having custody or possession of that property prevents such inspection or obstructs the person so authorised in the performance of his functions in relation to the inspection, the person so having custody or possession shall be liable to a penalty of £500.

(3) Where an accountable person fraudulently or negligently—

(a) delivers any incorrect return or additional return;

(b) makes or furnishes any incorrect statement, declaration, evidence or valuation in connection with any property comprised in any disposition;

(c) makes or furnishes any incorrect statement, declaration, evidence or valuation in connection with any claim for any allowance, deduction, exemption or relief; or

(d) makes or furnishes any incorrect statement, declaration, evidence or valuation in connection with any other matter,

on the basis of which the amount of tax assessable in respect of a taxable gift or taxable inheritance would be less than it would have been if the correct return, additional return, statement, declaration, evidence or valuation had been delivered, made or furnished, he shall be liable to a penalty of—

(i) £1,000; and

(ii) the amount, or in the case of fraud, twice the amount, of the difference specified in subsection (5).

(4) Where any such return, additional return, statement, declaration, evidence or valuation as is mentioned in subsection (3) was delivered, made or furnished neither fraudulently nor negligently by a person and it comes to his notice that it was incorrect, then, unless the error is remedied without unreasonable delay, such matter shall be treated, for the purposes of this section, as having been negligently done by him.

(5) The difference referred to in subsection (3) is the difference between—

(a) the amount of tax payable in respect of the taxable gift or taxable inheritance to which the return, additional return, statement, declaration, evidence or valuation relates; and

(b) the amount which would have been the amount so payable if the return, additional return, statement, declaration, evidence or valuation as made or submitted had been correct.

(6) For the purpose of subsection (3), where anything referred to in that subsection is delivered, made or furnished on behalf of a person, it shall be deemed to have been delivered, made or furnished by that person unless he proves that it was done without his knowledge or consent.

(7) Any person who assists in or induces the delivery, making or furnishing for any purposes of the tax of any return, additional return, statement, declaration, evidence or valuation which he knows to be incorrect shall be liable to a penalty of £250.

(8) The provisions of this section shall not affect any criminal proceedings.

(9) Subject to the provisions of this section, sections 128 (4), 507 , 508 , 510 , 511 , 512 , 517 and 518 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , shall, with any necessary modifications, apply to a penalty under this Act as if the penalty were a penalty under the Income Tax Acts.

64. —(1) In this section—

“death duties” has the meaning assigned to it by section 30 of the Finance Act, 1971 ; and

“purchaser or mortgagee” includes a person deriving title from or under a purchaser or mortgagee in the case of such a sale or mortgage as is referred to in this section.

(2) Where an interest in expectancy has, prior to the 1st day of April, 1975, been bona fide sold or mortgaged for full consideration in money or money's worth, and that interest comes into possession on a death occurring on or after that date, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say—

(a) the purchaser or mortgagee shall not be liable in respect of inheritance tax on the inheritance referred to in paragraph (b) for an amount greater than that referred to in paragraph (c);

(b) the inheritance referred to in paragraph (a) is the inheritance of property in which the interest so sold or mortgaged subsists and which arises in respect of the interest of the remainderman referred to in section 23 so coming into possession;

(c) the amount referred to in paragraph (a) shall be the amount that would then have been payable by the purchaser or mortgagee in respect of death duties on the property in which the interest subsists as property passing under the same disposition as that under which the said inheritance is taken, if the property, on so coming into possession, had been chargeable to death duties—

(i) under the law in force; and

(ii) at the rate or rates having effect,

at the date of the sale or mortgage;

(d) where such an interest is so mortgaged, any amount of inheritance tax payable in respect of the inheritance referred to in paragraph (b), and from the payment of which the mortgagee is relieved under this section, shall, notwithstanding the priority referred to in section 47 (1), rank, in relation to property charged with such tax under that section, as a charge subsequent to the mortgage;

(e) any person, other than the purchaser or mortgagee, who is accountable for the payment of so much of the inheritance tax as is not the liability of the purchaser or mortgagee by virtue of the relief given by this section, shall not be liable for the payment of any amount in respect thereof in excess of the amount which is available to him for such payment by reason of there being, at the time when the interest comes into possession, other property, or an equity of redemption, or both, subject to the same trusts, under the disposition referred to in paragraph (c), as the property in which the interest in expectancy subsists; and

(f) nothing in section 35 (7) or (8) or section 47 (1) shall be construed as derogating from the relief given by this section to a purchaser or mortgagee.

65. —In so far as a provision in a document refers (in whatever terms) to any death duty to arise on any death occurring on or after the 1st day of April, 1975, it shall have effect, as far as may be, as if the reference included a reference to inheritance tax—

(a) if that document was executed prior to the passing of this Act, and the reference is to legacy duty and succession duty or either of them;

(b) if that document was so executed, and the reference is to estate duty, and it may reasonably be inferred from all the circumstances (including any similarity of the incidence of inheritance tax to that of estate duty) that the inclusion of the reference to inheritance tax would be just; and

(c) whether the document was executed prior to or after the passing of this Act, if the reference is to death duties, without referring to any particular death duty.

66. —(1) If the Government by order declare that arrangements specified in the order have been made with the government of any territory outside the State in relation to affording relief from double taxation in respect of gift tax or inheritance tax payable under the laws of the State and any tax imposed under the laws of that territory which is of a similar character or is chargeable by reference to death or to gifts inter vivos and that it is expedient that those arrangements should have the force of law, the arrangements shall, notwithstanding anything in any enactment, have the force of law.

(2) Any arrangements to which the force of law is given under this section may include provision for relief from tax charged before the making of the arrangements and provisions as to property which is not itself subject to double tax, and the provisions of this section shall have effect accordingly.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), arrangements made with the head of a foreign state shall be regarded as made with the government thereof.

(4) Where any arrangements have the force of law by virtue of this section, the obligation as to secrecy imposed by any enactment shall not prevent the Commissioners from disclosing to any authorised officer of the government with which the arrangements are made such information as is required to be disclosed under the arrangements.

(5) (a) Any order made under this section may be revoked by a subsequent order and any such revoking order may contain such transitional provisions as appear to the Government to be necessary or expedient.

(b) Where an order is proposed to be made under this section, a draft thereof shall be laid before Dáil Éireann and the order shall not be made until a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by Dáil Éireann.

67. —(1) (a) In this section—

“foreign tax” means any tax which is chargeable under the laws of any territory outside the State and is of a character similar to estate duty, gift tax or inheritance tax;

“event” means—

(i) a death; or

(ii) any other event,

by reference to which the date of the gift or the date of the inheritance is determined.

(b) For the purposes of this section, a reference to property situate in a territory outside the State is a reference to property situate in that territory at the date of the gift or the date of the inheritance, as the case may be, or to property representing such property.

(2) Where the Commissioners are satisfied that a taxable gift or taxable inheritance, taken under a disposition by a donee or successor on the happening of any event, is reduced by the payment of foreign tax which is chargeable in connection with the same event under the same disposition in respect of property which is situate in the territory outside the State in which that foreign tax is chargeable, they shall allow a credit in respect of that foreign tax against the gift tax or inheritance tax payable by that donee or successor on that taxable gift or taxable inheritance; but such credit shall not exceed—

(a) the amount of the gift tax or inheritance tax payable in respect of the same property by reason of such property being comprised in any taxable gift or taxable inheritance taken under that disposition on the happening of that event; or

(b) the amount of that foreign tax,

whichever is the lesser.

(3) The provisions of this section shall be subject to any arrangement to which the force of law is given under section 66, and, if any such arrangement provides for the allowance of the amount of a tax payable in a territory outside the State as a credit against gift tax or inheritance tax, the provisions of the arrangement shall apply in relation to the tax payable in that territory in lieu of the provisions of subsection (2).

(4) If the amount of tax payable in respect of a taxable gift or taxable inheritance would be less by making a deduction (in ascertaining the taxable value of the taxable gift or taxable inheritance) of the amount of the foreign tax to which the taxable gift or taxable inheritance is subject than by making the allowance of a credit—

(a) under subsection (2); or

(b) under any arrangement to which the force of law is given under section 66,

such deduction shall be made notwithstanding the provisions of section 18 (5) (b), and no such credit shall be allowed.

(5) Where the foreign tax in respect of property comprised in a taxable gift or a taxable inheritance taken under a disposition on the happening of an event is, under the terms of the disposition, directed to be paid out of a taxable gift or a taxable inheritance (taken under that disposition on the happening of the same event) other than the taxable gift or taxable inheritance out of which it would be payable in the absence of such a direction, then, for the purposes of subsection (2), the taxable gift or taxable inheritance out of which the foreign tax would be payable in the absence of such a direction, and no other taxable gift or taxable inheritance, shall be treated as reduced by the payment of the foreign tax.

68. —(1) Inheritance tax shall not be a duty or a death duty for the purposes of section 9 of the Succession Act, 1965 , but it shall be a death duty for the purposes of—

(a) section 34 (3) of that Act;

(b) the definition of pecuniary legacy in section 3 (1) of that Act; and

(c) paragraph 8 of Part II of the First Schedule to that Act.

(2) Section 72 of the Registration of Title Act, 1964 , shall apply as if gift tax and inheritance tax were therein mentioned as well as estate duty and succession duty.

69. —(1) Section 1 of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1927 , is hereby amended by the insertion of “and gift tax and inheritance tax” before “but no other tax or duty”.

(2) Section 39 of the Inland Revenue Regulation Act, 1890, is hereby amended by the insertion of “gift tax and inheritance tax,” before “stamp duties”.

70. —(1) Any notice which under this Act is authorised or required to be given by the Commissioners may be served by post.

(2) A notice or form which is to be served on a person may be either delivered to him or left at his usual or last known place of abode.

(3) Prima facie evidence of any notice given under this Act by the Commissioners or any officer of the Commissioners may be given in any proceedings by production of a document purporting to be a copy of the notice, and it shall not be necessary to prove the official position of the person by whom the notice purports to be given or, if it is signed, the signature, or that the person signing and giving it was authorised so to do.

(4) In any case where a time limit is specified by or under this Act, other than Part VIII hereof, for the doing of any act required by or under this Act, other than Part VIII hereof, to be done by any person other than the Commissioners, the Commissioners may, in their discretion, extend such time limit.

71. —(1) The Commissioners shall make such regulations as seem to them to be necessary for the purpose of giving effect to this Act and of enabling them to discharge their functions thereunder.

(2) Every regulation made under this section shall be laid before Dáil Éireann as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by Dáil Éireann within the next twenty-one days on which Dáil Éireann has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

72. —(1) Tax is hereby placed under the care and management of the Commissioners.

(2) Subject to the direction and control of the Commissioners, any power, function or duty conferred or imposed on the Commissioners by this Act may be exercised or performed on their behalf by an officer of the Commissioners.