Finance Act, 1991

Chapter VIII

Taxation of Acquisition by a Company of its Own Shares

Interpretation ( Chapter VIII ).

59.—(1) In this Chapter—

“the Act of 1975” means the Capital Gains Tax Act, 1975 ;

“the Act of 1976” means the Corporation Tax Act, 1976 ;

“chargeable period” means an accounting period of a company or a year of assessment;

“control” has the meaning given by section 158 of the Act of 1976;

“holding company” means a company whose business, disregarding any trade carried on by it, consists wholly or mainly of the holding of shares or securities of one or more companies which are its 51 per cent. subsidiaries;

“inspector”, in relation to any matter, means an inspector of taxes appointed under section 161 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , and includes such other officer as the Revenue Commissioners shall appoint in that behalf;

“personal representatives” has the meaning assigned to it by section 450 (2) (a) of the Income Tax Act, 1967 ;

“quoted company” means a company whose shares, or any class of whose shares, are listed in the official list of a stock exchange or dealt in on an unlisted securities market;

“relevant day” means the day on which Part XI of the Companies Act, 1990 , comes into operation by order of the Minister for Industry and Commerce under section 2 of that Act;

“shares” includes stock;

“trade” does not include dealing in shares, securities, land, futures or traded options and “trading activities” shall be construed accordingly;

“trading company” means a company whose business consists wholly or mainly of the carrying on of a trade or trades;

“trading group” means a group the business of whose members, taken together, consists wholly or mainly of the carrying on of a trade or trades, and for this purpose “group” means a company which has one or more 51 per cent. subsidiaries together with those subsidiaries.

(2) References in this Chapter to the owner of shares are references to the beneficial owner except where the shares are held on trusts, other than bare trusts, or are comprised in the estate of a deceased person, and in such a case are references to the trustees or, as the case may be, to the deceased's personal representatives.

(3) References in this Chapter to a payment made by a company include references to anything else that is, or would but for section 61 be, a distribution.

(4) References in this Chapter to a company being unquoted shall be treated as references to a company which is neither a quoted company nor a 51 per cent. subsidiary of a quoted company.