Finance Act 2003

Levy on certain financial institutions.

141.—The Principal Act is amended by inserting the following after section 126:

“126A.—(1) (a) In this section—

‘appropriate tax’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 256 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 ;

‘assessable amount’, in relation to a relevant person, means the relevant retention tax in relation to the person;

‘average relevant deposits’, in relation to a company, means an amount specified in a notice given by the Central Bank to a company for the purposes of this section, being an amount equal to the average of the endmonth amounts of non-Government deposits of Irish residents for each of the calendar months in the year 2001;

‘company’ has the same meaning as in section 4 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 ;

‘non-Government deposits of Irish residents’, in relation to a company, means the amount specified as non-Government deposits of Irish residents in a return made by the company before 4 December 2002 to the Central Bank of Ireland in accordance with section 18 of the Central Bank Act 1971 (as amended by section 37 of the Central Bank Act 1989 and section 8 of the Central Bank Act 1998 );

‘due date’ means—

(i)   in respect of the year 2003, 20 October 2003,

(ii)   in respect of the year 2004, 20 October 2004, and

(iii)  in respect of the year 2005, 20 October 2005;

‘group assessable amount’, in relation to a year, means the aggregate of the assessable amounts in relation to companies which, at the due date for the year, are members of the group;

‘group relevant deposits’ for any year in relation to a group of companies, means the aggregate of the amounts of average relevant deposits in relation to companies which, on the due date for the year, are members of the group;

‘group stamp duty’, in relation to a group of companies, means the aggregate of the amounts of stamp duty which would, if subsection (7) were deleted, be payable under subsection (6) by companies which, on the due date for the year, are members of the group;

‘relevant person’ means a person who was obliged to pay—

(i)   appropriate tax under section 258(3), or

(ii)   an amount on account of appropriate tax under section 258(4) or 259(4),

of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 in the year 2001;

‘relevant retention tax’, in relation to a relevant person, means an amount determined by the formula—

A + B — C

where—

A is an amount equal to the aggregate of—

(i)   appropriate tax paid by the person in the year 2001 under section 258 (3) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 , and

(ii)   the amount paid by the person in the year 2001 on account of appropriate tax under section 258(4) or 259(4) of that Act,

B is the aggregate of any amounts of appropriate tax, or any amounts on account of appropriate tax, paid by the person after the year 2001 which, in accordance with section 258 or 259 of that Act, should have been paid by the person in the year 2001, and

C is the aggregate of any amounts of appropriate tax paid by the person in the year 2001 which—

(i) are included in A, and

(ii) were agreed by the person and an officer of the Commissioners at or before the time of payment as being tax which, in accordance with the said section 258, should have been paid before the year 2001;

‘year 2001’ means the period of 12 months ending on 31 December 2001.

(b) For the purposes of this section—

(i)  2 companies shall be deemed to be members of a group if one company is a 51 per cent subsidiary (within the meaning of section 9 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 ) of the other company or both companies are 51 per cent subsidiaries of a third company, and

(ii)  a company and all its 51 per cent subsidiaries shall form a group and, where that company is a member of a group as being itself a 51 per cent subsidiary, that group shall comprise all its 51 per cent subsidiaries and the first-mentioned group shall be deemed not to be a group; but a company which is not a member of a group shall be treated as if it were a member of a group which consists of that company, and accordingly references to group assessable amount, group relevant deposits and group stamp duty shall be construed as if they were respectively references to assessable amount, relevant deposits and stamp duty of that company.

(2) A relevant person shall for each of the years 2003, 2004 and 2005, not later than the due date in respect of that year, deliver to the Commissioners a statement in writing showing—

(a) the assessable amount for that person, and

(b) any amount which has been apportioned to the person in accordance with subsection (7).

(3) Where at any time in a period commencing on 1 January 2001 and ending immediately before a due date—

(a) a relevant person ceased to carry on a business in the course of which the person was obliged to pay any amount under section 258 or 259 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 , and

(b) another person (in this section referred to as the ‘successor person’) acquired the whole, or substantially the whole, of the business,

the relevant person shall not be required to deliver a statement on the due date in accordance with subsection (2) but the successor person shall—

(i) where the successor person is, apart from this subsection, required to deliver a statement on the due date in accordance with subsection (2), increase the assessable amount in that statement by the assessable amount in relation to the relevant person, and

(ii) in any other case, deliver a statement on the due date in accordance with subsection (2) as if the successor person were the relevant person.

(4) Where at any time in a period commencing at the time at which a successor person acquired the whole, or substantially the whole, of a business from the relevant person referred to in subsection (3) such that that subsection applies to the successor person and ending immediately before a due date—

(a) the successor person ceased to carry on the business so acquired, and

(b) another person (in this section referred to as the ‘next successor person’) acquired the whole, or substantially the whole, of the business.

the successor person shall not be required to deliver a statement on the due date in accordance with subsection (3) but the next successor person shall—

(i) where the next successor person is, apart from this subsection, required to deliver a statement on the due date in accordance with subsection (2), increase the assessable amount in that statement by the assessable amount in relation to the relevant person, and

(ii) in any other case, deliver a statement on the due date in accordance with subsection (2) as if the next successor person were the relevant person.

(5) Where at any time in a period commencing at the time at which a next successor person acquired the whole, or substantially the whole, of a business such that that person was required—

(a) to increase an assessable amount by an assessable amount in relation to a relevant person, or

(b) to deliver a statement as if the next successor person were a relevant person,

and ending immediately before a due date—

(i) the next successor person ceased to carry on the business so acquired, and

(ii) another person (in this section referred to as the ‘further successor person’) acquired the whole, or substantially the whole, of the business,

the next successor person shall not be required to deliver a statement on the due date in accordance with subsection (4) but the further successor person shall—

(I) where the further successor person is, apart from this subsection, required to deliver a statement on the due date in accordance with subsection (2), increase the assessable amount in that statement by the assessable amount in relation to the relevant person, and

(II) in any other case, deliver a statement on the due date in accordance with subsection (2) as if the further successor person were the relevant person,

and so on for further successions.

(6) Subject to subsection (7), there shall be charged on any statement delivered in accordance with subsection (2) a stamp duty of an amount equal to 50 per cent of the assessable amount.

(7) (a) Where, as respects a group of companies, the group stamp duty for a year exceeds an amount equal to 0.15 per cent of the group relevant deposits for the year, so much of the excess as bears to that amount the same proportion as the assessable amount for the year in relation to a company which is a member of the group bears to the group assessable amount for that year shall be apportioned to the company; but the companies which are members of the group may, by giving notice in writing to the Commissioners by the due date for that year, elect to have the excess apportioned in such manner as is specified in the notice.

(b) Where an amount (in this paragraph referred to as the ‘apportioned amount’) has been apportioned to a company under paragraph (a), the amount to be charged under subsection (6) shall be reduced by the apportioned amount.

(8) The stamp duty charged by subsection (6) upon a statement delivered by a relevant person in accordance with subsection (2) shall be paid by that person upon delivery of the statement.

(9) There shall be furnished to the Commissioners by a relevant person such particulars as the Commissioners may require in relation to any statement required by this section to be delivered by the person.

(10) In the case of failure by a relevant person—

(a) to deliver any statement required to be delivered by that person under subsection (2), or

(b) to pay the stamp duty chargeable on any such statement,

on or before the due date in respect of the year concerned, the person shall, from the due date concerned until the day on which the stamp duty is paid, be liable to pay, by way of penalty, in addition to the stamp duty, interest on the stamp duty at the rate of 0.0322 per cent per day or part of a day and also from 20 October of the year in which the statement is to be delivered in accordance with subsection (2), by way of penalty, a sum equal to 1 per cent of the stamp duty for each day the stamp duty remains unpaid and each penalty shall be recoverable in the same manner as if the penalty were part of the stamp duty.

(11) The delivery of any statement required by subsection (2) may be enforced by the Commissioners under section 47 of the Succession Duty Act 1853 , in all respects as if such statement were such account as is mentioned in that section and the failure to deliver such statement were such default as is mentioned in that section.

(12) The stamp duty and any penalty due under subsection (10) charged by this section shall not be allowed as a deduction for the purposes of the computation of any tax or duty payable by the relevant person which is under the care and management of the Commissioners.”.