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3 2008

Finance Act 2008

PART 6

Miscellaneous

Interpretation (Part 6).

130 .— In this Part “ Principal Act ” means the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 .

Amendment of section 1003 (payment of tax by means of donation of heritage items) of Principal Act.

131 .— Section 1003 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (2) by inserting the following after paragraph (ab):

“(ac) Paragraph (ab) shall not apply in the case of a collection of items, consisting wholly of archival material or manuscripts, which was either—

(i) created over time by one individual, family or organisation, or

(ii) was assembled by an individual, family or organisation,

and constitutes a collection of archival material or manuscripts where each item has been in such collection for a period of not less than 30 years and merits maintenance as a collection.”.

(b) by inserting the following after subsection (2):

“(2A) Notwithstanding subsection (2)(c), the selection committee may make a determination in respect of an item or collection of items, consisting wholly of archival material or manuscripts, and the market value limit in respect of any one item in such a collection at the valuation date as set out in subsection (2)(c)(i)(II) shall not apply.”.

Amendment of section 1003A (payment of tax by means of donation of heritage property to Irish Heritage Trust) of Principal Act.

132 .— (1) Section 1003A of the Principal Act is amended in subsection (11A)(c) (inserted by the Finance Act 2007 ) by substituting “2008” for “2007”.

(2) Section 1003A of the Principal Act, as amended by subsection (1), applies as respects the year of assessment 2008 as if in subsection (2)(d) “€8,000,000” were substituted for “€6,000,000”.

Amendment of section 891B (returns of certain payments made by certain persons) of Principal Act.

133 .— Section 891B of the Principal Act is amended by inserting the following after subsection (9):

“(10) Section 4 of the Post Office Savings Bank Act 1861 shall not apply to the disclosure of information required to be included in a return made under regulations made under this section and, accordingly, this section shall apply to information to which, but for this subsection, the said section 4 would apply.”.

Questioning of suspects in Garda Sí[html]ochána custody in certain circumstances.

134 .— Chapter 4 of Part 38 of the Principal Act is amended by inserting the following after section 912A—

“912B.— (1) In this section—

‘ authorised officer ’ means an officer of the Revenue Commissioners authorised by them in writing to exercise the powers conferred by this section;

‘ specified offence ’ means any offence under—

(a) the Customs Acts, including any offence under section 1078 or 1078A in so far as those sections relate to customs, and any instruments made thereunder and any instruments made under any other enactment and relating to customs,

(b) the statutes relating to the duties of excise and to the management of those duties, including any offence under section 1078 or 1078A in so far as those sections relate to excise, and any instruments made thereunder,

(c) (i) subsection (1A) and paragraphs (c), (d) and (ii) of subsection (2) of section 1078, and

(ii) section 1078A,

in so far as it is an offence relating to Chapter 2 of Part 18 and any instruments made under that Chapter, or

(d) (i) subsection (1A) and paragraphs (c) and (d) of subsection (2) of section 1078, and

(ii) section 1078A,

in so far as it is an offence relating to the Value-Added Tax Act 1972 , and the enactments amending or extending that Act and any instruments made thereunder,

which is an arrestable offence within the meaning of section 2 of the Criminal Law Act 1997 .

(2) This section shall apply to a specified offence only.

(3) Where a member of the Garda Síochána arrests without warrant, whether in a Garda station or elsewhere, a person whom he or she, with reasonable cause, suspects of committing or of having committed a specified offence and the person has been taken to and detained in a Garda station, or if the person is arrested in a Garda station, has been detained in the station, pursuant to section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 , an authorised officer or officers (but not more than 2 such officers) may, if and for so long as the officer or officers is, or are, accompanied by a member of the Garda Síochána, attend at, and participate in, the questioning of a person so detained in connection with the investigation of the specified offence, but only if the member of the Garda Síochána requests the authorised officer or officers to do so and the member is satisfied that the attendance at, and participation in, such questioning of the authorised officer or officers is necessary for the proper investigation of the specified offence concerned.

(4) An authorised officer who attends at, and participates in, the questioning of a person in accordance with subsection (3) may not commit any act or make any omission which, if committed or made by a member of the Garda Síochána, would be a contravention of any regulation made under section 7 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 .

(5) An act committed or omission made by an authorised officer who attends at, and participates in, the questioning of a person in accordance with subsection (3) which, if committed or made by a member of the Garda Síochána, would be a contravention of any regulation made under section 7 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 shall not of itself render the authorised officer liable to any criminal or civil proceedings or of itself affect the lawfulness of the custody of the detained person or the admissibility in evidence of any statement made by him or her.”.

Amendment of section 818 (interpretation (Part 34)) of Principal Act.

135 .— Section 818 of the Principal Act is amended by substituting the following for the definition of “authorised officer”:

“ ‘ authorised officer ’ means an officer of the Revenue Commissioners;”.

Amendment of section 888 (returns etc. by lessors, lessees and agents) of Principal Act.

136 .— Section 888 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by substituting the following for subsection (1):

“(1) In this section—

‘lease’, ‘lessee’ and ‘rent’ have the same meanings respectively as in Chapter 8 of Part 4;

‘ premises ’ means any lands, tenements or hereditaments.”,

and

(b) by inserting the following after “Chapter 8 of Part 4” in subsection (2):

“including, in the case of persons referred to in paragraph (d), of income which would be chargeable to tax under Case V of Schedule D if it had arisen in the State,”.

Miscellaneous amendments in relation to claims for repayment of tax.

137 .— The enactments specified in Schedule 6

(a) are amended to the extent and manner specified in paragraphs 1 and 2 of that Schedule, and

(b) apply as on and from 31 January 2008.

Amendment of penalties on summary conviction for certain revenue offences.

138 .— (1) The Principal Act is amended—

(a) in section 531(14), in each place where it occurs, by substituting “€5,000” for “€1,265”,

(b) in section 908C(6) by substituting “€5,000” for “€3,000”,

(c) in section 908D(8) by substituting “€5,000” for “€3,000”,

(d) in section 1078(3)(a) by substituting “€5,000” for “€3,000”, and

(e) in section 1078A(3)(a) by substituting “€5,000” for “€3,000”.

(2) Subsection (1) applies as respects an offence committed on a day after the passing of this Act.

Provisions relating to certain customs regulations.

139 .— The instruments referred to in Schedule 7 shall, notwithstanding any enactment, have the force of law as if each such instrument were an Act of the Oireachtas on and from the passing of this Act.

Amendment of section 811A (transactions to avoid liability to tax: surcharge, interest and protective notifications) of Principal Act.

140 .— (1) Section 811A of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by inserting the following after subsection (1)—

“(1A) Without prejudice to the generality of any provision of this section or section 811, sections 955(2)(a) and 956(1)(c), as construed together with section 950(2), shall not be construed as preventing an officer of the Revenue Commissioners from—

(a) making any enquiry, or

(b) taking any action,

at any time in connection with this section or section 811.

(1B) Where the Revenue Commissioners have received from, or on behalf of, a person, on or before the relevant date (within the meaning of subsection (3)(c)) a notification (referred to in subsections (3) and (6) as a ‘protective notification’) of full details of a transaction, then the Revenue Commissioners shall not form the opinion that the transaction is a tax avoidance transaction pursuant to subsections (2) and (4) of that section after the expiry of the period of 2 years commencing at—

(a) the relevant date, or

(b) if earlier, the date on which the notification was received by the Revenue Commissioners,

but this subsection shall not be construed as preventing an officer of the Revenue Commissioners from making any enquiry at any time in connection with this section or section 811.

(1C) Where the Revenue Commissioners have not received from, or on behalf of, a person, on or before the relevant date (within the meaning of subsection (3)(c)) a notification (referred to in subsections (3) and (6) as a ‘ protective notification ’) of full details of the transaction, then section 811 shall apply as respects that transaction, if it is a transaction specified or described in a notice of opinion given by the Revenue Commissioners, as if the following clauses were substituted for clauses (I) and (II) of subsection (9)(a)(i):

‘(I) consider that there are grounds on which the transaction specified or described in the notice of opinion or any part of that transaction could reasonably be considered to be a tax avoidance transaction, that the opinion or the opinion in so far as it relates to that part is to stand,

(II) consider that, subject to such amendment or addition thereto as the Appeal Commissioners or the majority of them deem necessary and as they shall specify or describe, there are grounds on which the transaction, or any part of it, specified or described in the notice of opinion, could reasonably be considered to be a tax avoidance transaction, that the transaction or that part of it be so amended or added to and that, subject to the amendment or addition, the opinion or the opinion in so far as it relates to that part is to stand, or’,

and the provisions of section 811 shall be construed accordingly.”,

(b) in subsection (2)(a) by substituting “20 per cent” for “10 per cent”,

(c) in subsection (3)—

(i) in subparagraph (b)(i) by inserting “the application of subsection (1C) to the transaction concerned or” after “solely to prevent any possibility of”, and

(ii) in subparagraph (c) by substituting—

(I) “19 February 2008” for “2 February 2006”, and

(II) “19 May 2008” for “2 May 2006”,

in each place where they occur,

(d) in subsection (6)(b) by substituting “the purposes of subsections (1B) and (3)” for “the purposes of subsection (3)”, and

(e) in subsection (7) by substituting “19 February 2008” for “2 February 2006” in each place where it occurs.

(2) This section applies—

(a) as respects any transaction where the whole or any part of the transaction is undertaken or arranged on or after 19 February 2008, and

(b) as respects any transaction, the whole of which was undertaken or arranged before that date, in so far as it gives rise to, or would but for section 811 of the Principal Act give rise to—

(i) a reduction, avoidance, or deferral of any charge or assessment to tax, or part thereof, where the charge or assessment arises only by virtue of another transaction or other transactions carried out wholly on or after 19 February 2008, or

(ii) a refund or a payment of an amount, or of an increase in an amount of tax, or part thereof, refundable or otherwise payable to a person where, but for section 811 of the Principal Act, that amount or increase in the amount would become first so refundable or otherwise payable to the person on or after 19 February 2008,

but where as respects any transaction the Revenue Commissioners have before 19 February 2008 received from, or on behalf of, a person a notification (referred to in subsections (3) and (6) of section 811A of the Principal Act as a “protective notification” and made on or before the relevant date, within the meaning of subsection (3)(c) of that section prior to any amendment made by this section) of full details of the transaction, then the said section 811A shall apply to that transaction as if this section had not been enacted.

Miscellaneous technical amendments in relation to tax.

141 .— The enactments specified in Schedule 8

(a) are amended to the extent and in the manner specified in paragraphs 1 to 6 of that Schedule, and

(b) apply and come into operation in accordance with paragraph 7 of that Schedule.

Capital Services Redemption Account.

142 .— (1) In this section—

“ capital services ” has the same meaning as it has in the principal section;

“ fifty-fifth additional annuity ” means the sum charged on the Central Fund under subsection (3);

“ principal section ” means section 22 of the Finance Act 1950 .

(2) In relation to the twenty-eight successive financial years commencing with the financial year ending on 31 December 2008, subsection (3) of section 128 of the Finance Act 2006 shall have effect with the substitution of “€00.00” for “€28,037,169”.

(3) A sum of €152,155,307 to redeem borrowings, and interest on such borrowings, in respect of capital services shall be charged annually on the Central Fund or the growing produce of that Fund in the thirty successive financial years commencing with the financial year ending on 31 December 2008.

(4) The fifty-fifth additional annuity shall be paid into the Capital Services Redemption Account in such manner and at such times in the relevant financial year as the Minister for Finance may determine.

(5) Any amount of the fifty-fifth additional annuity, not exceeding €116,950,000 in any financial year, may be applied toward defraying the interest on the public debt.

(6) The balance of the fifty-fifth additional annuity shall be applied in any one or more of the ways specified in subsection (6) of the principal section.

Care and management of taxes and duties.

143 .— Except where otherwise provided, all taxes and duties imposed by this Act are placed under the care and management of the Revenue Commissioners.

Short title, construction and commencement.

144 .— (1) This Act may be cited as the Finance Act 2008.

(2) Part 1 shall be construed together with—

(a) in so far as it relates to income tax, the Income Tax Acts,

(b) in so far as it relates to corporation tax, the Corporation Tax Acts, and

(c) in so far as it relates to capital gains tax, the Capital Gains Tax Acts.

(3) Part 2 in so far as it relates to duties of excise, shall be construed together with the statutes which relate to those duties and to the management of those duties.

(4) Part 3 shall be construed together with the Value-Added Tax Acts 1972 to 2007 and may be cited together with those Acts as the Value-Added Tax Acts 1972 to 2008.

(5) Part 4 shall be construed together with the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 and the enactments amending or extending that Act.

(6) Part 5 shall be construed together with the Capital Acquisitions Tax Consolidation Act 2003 and the enactments amending or extending that Act.

(7) Part 6 in so far as it relates to—

(a) income tax, shall be construed together with the Income Tax Acts,

(b) corporation tax, shall be construed together with the Corporation Tax Acts,

(c) capital gains tax, shall be construed together with the Capital Gains Tax Acts,

(d) customs, shall be construed together with the Custom Acts,

(e) duties of excise, shall be construed together with the statutes which relate to duties of excise and the management of those duties,

(f) value-added tax, shall be construed together with the Value-Added Tax Acts 1972 to 2008,

(g) stamp duty, shall be construed together with the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 and the enactments amending or extending that Act,

(h) gift tax or inheritance tax, shall be construed together with the Capital Acquisitions Tax Consolidation Act 2003 and the enactments amending or extending that Act.

(8) Except where otherwise expressly provided in Part 1, that Part is deemed to have come into force and takes effect as on and from 1 January 2008.

(9) Except where otherwise expressly provided for, where a provision of this Act is to come into operation on the making of an order by the Minister for Finance, that provision shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Finance shall appoint either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions.