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Corporate donations to eligible charities.
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61.—Chapter 3 of Part 15 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion after section 486 of the following section:
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“Corporate donations to eligible charities.
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486A.—(1) In this section—
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‘authorisation’ shall be construed in accordance with subsection (2);
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‘eligible charity’ means any body in the State that is the holder of an authorisation that is in force;
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‘qualifying donation’ shall be construed in accordance with subsection (8).
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(2) Subject to subsection (3), the Revenue Commissioners may, on application to them in such form as they may determine, or in a form to the like effect, by a body in the State, and on the furnishing by the body to the Revenue Commissioners of such information as they may reasonably require for the purpose of their functions under this section, issue to the body a document (‘an authorisation’) stating that the body is an eligible charity for the purposes of this section.
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(3) An authorisation shall not be issued to a body unless it shows to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that—
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(a) it is a body of persons or a trust established for charitable purposes only,
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(b) the income of the body is applied for charitable purposes only,
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(c) before the date of the making of the application concerned under subsection (2), it has been granted exemption from tax for the purposes of section 207 for a period of not less than 3 years,
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(d) it provides such other information to the Revenue Commissioners as they may require for the purposes of their functions under this section, and
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(e) it complies with such conditions, if any, as the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform may, from time to time, specify for the purposes of this section.
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(4) An eligible charity shall publish such information in such manner as the Minister for Finance may reasonably require, including audited accounts of the charity comprising—
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(a) an income and expenditure account or a profit and loss account, as appropriate, for its most recent accounting period, and
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(b) a balance sheet as at the last day of that period.
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(5) Notwithstanding any obligations as to secrecy or other restriction upon disclosure of information imposed by or under any statute or otherwise, the Revenue Commissioners may make available to any person the name and address of an eligible charity.
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(6) Subject to subsection (7), an authorisation shall have effect for such period, not exceeding 5 years, as the Revenue Commissioners may determine and specify therein.
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(7) Where the Revenue Commissioners are satisfied that an eligible charity has ceased to comply with subsection (3) or (4), they shall, by notice in writing served by registered post on the charity, withdraw the authorisation of the charity and the withdrawal shall apply and have effect from such date, subsequent to the date of the notice, as is specified therein.
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(8) For the purposes of this section, a donation to an eligible charity is a qualifying donation if—
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(a) it is made by a company,
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(b) it is made on or after the 6th day of April, 1998, and
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(c) it satisfies the requirements of subsection (9).
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(9) A donation made by a company in an accounting period of the company satisfies the requirements of this subsection if—
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(a) it takes the form of the payment of one or more sums of money,
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(b) it is not subject to a condition as to repayment,
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(c) neither the company nor any person connected with it receives a benefit in consequence of making the donation,
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(d) it is not conditional on or associated with, or part of an arrangement involving, the acquisition of property by the eligible charity, otherwise than by way of gift, from the donor company or a person connected with it,
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(e) but for subsection (10)—
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(i) it would not be deductible in computing for the purposes of corporation tax the profits or gains of a trade or profession, and
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(ii) it would not be an expense of management deductible in computing the total profits of a company,
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and
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(f) it is not income to which section 792 applies.
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(10) Where a company makes a qualifying donation in any accounting period and claims relief from tax by reference thereto, the amount thereof shall, for the purposes of corporation tax, be treated as—
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(a) a deductible trading expense of a trade carried on by the company, or
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(b) an expense of management deductible in computing the total profits of the company,
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for that accounting period.
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(11) A claim under this section shall be made with the return required to be delivered under section 951 for the accounting period in which the qualifying donation is made.
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(12) Relief under this section shall not be given—
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(a) in respect of a qualifying donation made by a company in any accounting period to an eligible charity—
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(i) if the amount of the qualifying donation, or the aggregate of the amount of qualifying donations made by the company in the period, does not exceed £250, or
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(ii) to the extent to which the amount of the qualifying donation, or the aggregate of the amount of qualifying donations, aforesaid, exceeds £10,000,
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or
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(b) to the extent to which the aggregate of the amount of all qualifying donations made by a company in any accounting period to more than one eligible charity, exceeds the lesser of—
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(i) £50,000, or
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(ii) 10 per cent of the profits, before account is taken of the relief under this section, of the company for the accounting period.
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(13) Where a qualifying donation is made by a company in an accounting period of the company which is less than 12 months, the amounts of £10,000 and £50,000 specified in subsection (12) shall be proportionately reduced.”.
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