Finance Act, 2001

Amendment of Part 30 (occupational pension schemes, retirement annuities, purchased life annuities and certain pensions) of Principal Act.

18.—Part 30 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in Chapter 1—

(i) in section 770(1):

(I) by the insertion of the following after the definition of “pension”:

“‘pension adjustment order’ means an order made in accordance with either section 12 of the Family Law Act, 1995 , or section 17 of the Family Law (Divorce) Act, 1996 ;”,

(II) by the substitution of the following for the definition of proprietary director:

“‘proprietary director’ means a director who, either alone or together with his or her spouse and minor children is or was, at any time within 3 years of the date of—

(i) the specified normal retirement date,

(ii) an earlier retirement date, where applicable,

(iii) leaving service, or

(iv) in the case of a pension or part of a pension payable in accordance with a pension adjustment order, the relevant date in relation to that order,

the beneficial owner of shares which, when added to any shares held by the trustees of any settlement to which the director or his or her spouse had transferred assets, carry more than 5 per cent of the voting rights in the company providing the benefits or in a company which controls that company;”,

and

(III) by the insertion of the following after the definition of “relevant benefits”:

“‘relevant date’ means, in relation to a pension adjustment order, the date on which the decree of separation or the decree of divorce, as the case may be, was granted, by reference to which the pension adjustment order in question was made;”,

and

(ii) in subsection (3A) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1999 ) of section 772, by the substitution of the following for subparagraph (i):

“(i) a proprietary director of, or where a pension or part of a pension is payable in accordance with a pension adjustment order, the spouse or former spouse to whom the pension or part of the pension is so payable, of a proprietary director of, a company to which the scheme relates, or”,

and

(b) in Chapter 2—

(i) in section 784, by the insertion of the following after subsection (6):

“(7) Notwithstanding anything in section 18 or section 19, any payment of an annuity made on or after 1 January 2002 in respect of an annuity contract approved under this section or under section 785 shall be regarded as a pension chargeable to tax under Schedule E, and Chapter 4 of Part 42 shall apply accordingly.”,

(ii) in paragraph (c) of subsection (6) of section 784E (inserted by the Finance Act, 1999 ), by the substitution, as on and from 25 March 1999, for “subsections (2) and (4)” of “subsections (2) to (4)”,

and

(iii) in section 787—

(I) by the deletion of subsection (9),

(II) by the substitution of the following for subsection (10):

“(10) Where in any year of assessment a reduction or a greater reduction would be made under this section in the relevant earnings of an individual but for an insufficiency of net relevant earnings, the amount of the reduction which would have been made but for that reason, less the amount of the reduction which is made in that year, shall be carried forward to the next year of assessment, and shall be treated for the purposes of relief under this section as the amount of a qualifying premium paid in the next year of assessment.”,

and

(III) by the deletion of subsection (12).