Finance Act, 1999

Provisions relating to 10 per cent rate of corporation tax.

74.—Chapter 1 of Part 14 of the Principal Act is hereby amended—

(a) in section 442—

(i) in subsection (1)—

(I) by the insertion of the following before the definition of “merchandise”:

“‘expansion operations’, in relation to a company, includes—

(a) increases in production capacity for existing or directly related product lines of the company, and

(b) the addition of support functions directly related to the existing trading operations of the company;

‘industrial development agency’ means—

(a) the Industrial Development Authority in Ireland,

(b) the Shannon Free Airport Development Company,

(c) údarás na Gaeltachta,

(d) the Industrial Development Agency, Ireland,

(e) Forbairt,

(f) Forfás, or

(g) Enterprise Ireland;”,

(II) by the substitution of the following for the definitions of “relevant accounting period” and “relief under this Part”, respectively:

“‘relevant accounting period’, in relation to a trade carried on by a company which consists of or includes the manufacture of goods, means an accounting period or part of an accounting period of a company ending on or before—

(a) where subsection (11) or (12) of section 443 applies, the 31st day of December, 2000,

(b) in the case of a trade, other than a specified trade, which is set up and commenced on or after the 23rd day of July, 1998, the 31st day of December, 2002, and

(c) in any other case, the 31st day of December, 2010;

‘relief under this Part’ means the reduction of corporation tax provided for in section 448(2);”,

and

(III) by the addition of the following after the definition of “relief under this Part”:

“‘specified trade’, in relation to a company—

(a) means a trade which consists of or includes trading operations specified in a grant agreement (in this definition referred to as ‘the relevant grant agreement’) entered into between the company and an industrial development agency on foot of an approval of grant assistance for the company made by the industrial development agency on or before the 31st day of July, 1998, but

(b) does not include such part of the trade as consists of expansion operations which commenced to be carried on on or after the 23rd day of July, 1998, other than such of those operations as would fall within the terms of the relevant grant agreement;”,

and

(ii) by the addition of the following subsections after subsection (2):

“(3) Where, by virtue of the application of the definition of ‘specified trade’, an accounting period or part of an accounting period—

(a) would be a relevant accounting period in relation to a part (in this subsection referred to as ‘the first-mentioned part’) of a trade carried on by a company, and

(b) would not be a relevant accounting period in relation to another part (in this subsection referred to as ‘the second-mentioned part’) of that trade,

then, for the purposes of this Part—

(i) the first-mentioned part and the second-mentioned part shall each be treated as a separate trade, and

(ii) there shall be apportioned to the first-mentioned part and the second-mentioned part such proportion of the total amount receivable from sales made and services rendered in the course of the trade, and of expenses incurred in the course of the trade, in the accounting period or part of the accounting period, as the case may be, as is just and reasonable.

(4) Where—

(a) on or after the 23rd day of July, 1998, a company (in this subsection referred to as ‘the successor company’) succeeds to a trade or part of a trade which was carried on by another company (in this subsection referred to as ‘the original company’), and

(b) the original company has or could have made a claim to relief under this Part in relation to the trade or part of the trade,

then, subject to sections 445 and 446, relief, in so far as such relief relates to the trade or part of the trade in question, shall be granted to the successor company as respects the remaining relevant accounting periods for which such relief might have been claimed by the original company if it had continued to carry on the trade or part of the trade in question.”,

(b) in section 445(2), by the substitution of the following for “until the 31st day of December, 2005”:

“until—

(a) in the case of those operations which, on or before the 31st day of May, 1998, were approved by the Minister for carry on in the airport, the 31st day of December, 2005, and

(b) in the case of those operations which are so approved after the 31st day of May, 1998, the 31st day of December, 2002”,

(c) in section 446(2), by the substitution of the following for “until the 31st day of December, 2005”:

“until—

(a) in the case of those operations which, on or before the 31st day of July, 1998, were approved by the Minister for carry on in the Area, the 31st day of December, 2005, and

(b) in the case of those operations which are so approved after the 31st day of July, 1998, the 31st day of December, 2002”,

(d) in section 454—

(i) in subsection (1), by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (b):

“(b) For the purposes of this section, where a part only of an accounting period of a company is a relevant accounting period, the accounting period shall be divided into 2 parts, one beginning on the day on which the accounting period begins and ending on the last day of the accounting period which is within the relevant accounting period, and the other beginning on the day after that last-mentioned day and ending on the day on which the accounting period ends, and both parts shall be treated as if they were separate accounting periods of the company.”,

and

(ii) in subsection (2), by the substitution of “a relevant accounting period” for “an accounting period ending on or before the 31st day of December, 2010,”,

(e) in section 455—

(i) in subsection (2), by the substitution of “a relevant accounting period” and “the relevant accounting period” for “an accounting period” and “the accounting period”, respectively, and

(ii) in subsection (3), by the substitution of “a relevant accounting period” and “that relevant accounting period” for “an accounting period” and “that accounting period”, respectively,

and

(f) in section 456(2)(a), by the substitution of “any relevant accounting period” for “any accounting period ending on or before the 31st day of December, 2010,”.