Finance (No. 2) Act, 1959

Regulations.

6.—(1) The Revenue Commissioners shall make regulations with respect to the assessment, charge, collection and recovery of income tax in respect of emoluments to which this Part of this Act applies, being tax for the year 1960-61 or any subsequent year of assessment, or tax for any previous year of assessment remaining unpaid, and those regulations may, in particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, include provision—

(a) for requiring any employer making any payment of emoluments to which this Part of this Act applies, when he makes the payment, to make a deduction or repayment of tax calculated by reference to the rate of income tax for the year and any allowances, deductions and reliefs appropriate in the case of the employee as indicated by the particulars on the tax deduction card supplied in respect of the employee by the Revenue Commissioners, and for rendering persons who are required to make any such deduction or repayment, in the case of a deduction (whether or not made), accountable for the amount of the tax, and liable to pay that amount, to the Revenue Commissioners and, in the case of a repayment, entitled, if it has been made, to be paid it, or given credit for it, by the Revenue Commissioners;

(b) for the production to and inspection by persons authorised by the Revenue Commissioners of wages sheets and other documents and records for the purpose of satisfying themselves that tax in respect of emoluments to which this Part of this Act applies has been and is being duly deducted, repaid and accounted for;

(c) for the collection and recovery, whether by deduction from emoluments paid in any later year or otherwise, of tax in respect of emoluments to which this Part of this Act applies which has not been deducted or otherwise recovered during the year;

(d) for appeals with respect to matters arising under the regulations which would not otherwise be the subject of an appeal;

(e) for the deduction of tax at the standard rate in such cases or classes of cases as may be provided for by the regulations;

(f) for requiring every employer who pays emoluments to which this Part of this Act applies exceeding the limits specified in subsection (5) of this section to notify the Revenue Commissioners within the period specified in the regulations that he is such an employer;

(g) for requiring every employer who pays emoluments to which this Part of this Act applies exceeding the limits specified in subsection (5) of this section to keep and maintain a register of his employees in such manner as may be specified in the regulations, and, on being required so to do by the Revenue Commissioners by notice, to deliver the register to the Revenue Commissioners within the period specified in the notice;

(h) for treating persons who are not employers as employers in such cases or classes of cases as may be provided for by the regulations.

(2) Regulations under, this section shall have effect notwithstanding anything in the Income Tax Acts, but shall not affect any right of appeal which a person would have apart from the regulations.

(3) (a) Tax deduction cards shall be prepared with a view to securing that, so far as may be practicable—

(i) the total tax payable for the year of assessment in respect of any emoluments is deducted from the emoluments paid during that year, and

(ii) the tax deductible or repayable on the occasion of any payment of emoluments is such that the total net tax deducted since the beginning of the year of assessment bears to the total tax payable for that year the same proportion that the part of the year which ends with the date of the payment bears to the whole year.

(b) In paragraph (a) of this subsection—

any reference to the total tax payable for a year shall be construed as a reference to the total tax (excluding sur-tax) estimated to be payable for the year in respect of the emoluments, subject to a provisional deduction for allowances and reliefs and subject also, if necessary, to making an addition to the said estimated amount (including a nil amount) for amounts remaining unpaid on account of income tax for any previous year of assessment (including any year previous to the year 1960-61) and making a deduction therefrom for amounts overpaid on account of any such income tax;

the reference to the total net tax deducted shall be construed as a reference to the total tax deducted during the year by virtue of regulations made under this section, less any tax repaid by virtue of any such regulations.

(c) In making any estimation pursuant to paragraph (b) of this subsection, it may be assumed, in relation to any payment of emoluments, that the emoluments paid in the part of the year of assessment which ends with the making of the payment will bear to the emoluments for the whole of that year the same proportion that that part of the year bears to the whole year.

(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, when stating on a tax deduction card an amount in respect of allowances, deductions and reliefs, the amount may be rounded up to a convenient greater amount and stated accordingly, and, as respects the amount of tax which is not deducted in the year of assessment as a result of such statement, the adjustment appropriate for its recovery shall be made in a subsequent year of assessment.

(5) (a) The limits referred to in paragraphs (f) and (g) of subsection (1) of this section are emoluments at a rate equivalent to a rate of £6 a week, or in the case of an employee with other employment, £1 a week.

(b) In the case of employees paid monthly or at longer intervals, the references in paragraph (a) of this subsection to a rate of £6 a week and a rate of £1 a week shall be treated as references to a rate of £26 a month and a rate of £4 10s. a month respectively.

(6) Where a deduction falls to be made in any year of assessment from emoluments to which, this Part of this Act applies on account of income tax for any year of assessment before the year 1960-61, the employer shall not, pursuant to regulations under this section, make in the first-mentioned year any repayment of income tax.

(7) 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.