Finance Act, 1999

Capital allowances for buildings used for certain childcare purposes.

49.—The Principal Act is hereby amended—

(a) in section 409A (inserted by the Finance Act, 1998 ), by the insertion in paragraph (b) of the definition of “specified building” in subsection (1), after “section 843”, of “or 843A”, and

(b) in Part 36, by the insertion after section 843 of the following section:

“Capital allowances for buildings used for certain childcare purposes.

843A.—(1) In this section—

‘pre-school child’ and ‘pre-school service’ have the meanings respectively assigned to them by section 49 of the Child Care Act, 1991 ;

‘qualifying expenditure’ means capital expenditure incurred on or after the 2nd day of December, 1998, on the construction, conversion or refurbishment of a qualifying premises;

‘qualifying premises’ means a building or structure which—

(a) apart from this section is not an industrial building or structure within the meaning of section 268, and

(b) is in use for the purposes of providing—

(i) a pre-school service, or

(ii) a pre-school service and a day-care or other service to cater for children other than pre-school children,

and in respect of which it can be shown (to the extent that it is being used for the purposes of providing a pre-school service) that the requirements of Article 9, 10(1) or 11, as appropriate, of the Child Care (Pre-School Services) Regulations, 1996 ( S.I. No. 398 of 1996 ), have been complied with,

but does not include any part of a building or structure in use as or as part of a dwelling-house.

(2) Subject to subsections (3) to (5), the provisions of the Tax Acts relating to the making of allowances or charges in respect of capital expenditure incurred on the construction or refurbishment of an industrial building or structure shall, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in those provisions, apply in relation to qualifying expenditure on a qualifying premises—

(a) as if a qualifying premises were, at all times at which it is a qualifying premises, a building or structure in respect of which an allowance is to be made for the purposes of income tax or corporation tax, as the case may be, under Part 9 by reason of its use for a purpose specified in section 268(1)(a), and

(b) where any activity carried on in the qualifying premises is not a trade, as if it were a trade.

(3) In relation to qualifying expenditure on a qualifying premises section 272 shall apply as if—

(a) in subsection (3)(a)(ii) of that section the reference to 4 per cent were a reference to 15 per cent, and

(b) in subsection (4)(a)(ii) of that section the reference to 25 years were a reference to 7 years.

(4) Notwithstanding section 274(1), no balancing allowance or balancing charge shall be made in relation to a qualifying premises by reason of any event referred to in that section which occurs—

(a) more than 10 years after the qualifying premises was first used, or

(b) in a case where section 276 applies, more than 10 years after the qualifying expenditure on refurbishment of the qualifying premises was incurred.”.