Finance Act 2010

Amendment of section 8 (accountable persons) of Principal Act.

117.— (1) Section 8 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (1A)(aa)(i) by substituting “a taxable person who carries on a business in the State, or a person to whom a registration number has been assigned” for “a taxable person, or a person other than a taxable person to whom a registration number has been assigned”,

(b) by substituting the following for subsection (2A):

“(2A) Notwithstanding section 2, the State or any public body shall not be treated as a taxable person acting in that capacity in respect of any activity or transaction that is carried out by it in, or is closely linked to, the exercise by the State or such public body of particular rights or powers conferred on it by any enactment, except where—

(a) that activity is listed in Annex I (which is set out in Schedule 7) of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 24 on the common system of value added tax, and is carried out by the State or that public body on a more than negligible scale, or

(b) not treating the State or that public body as a taxable person in respect of that activity or transaction creates or would likely create a significant distortion of competition.”,

and

(c) in subsection (3E)(a) with effect from 8 March 2010—

(i) in subparagraph (i) by deleting “, or”,

(ii) by deleting subparagraph (ii),

(iii) in subclause (A) by deleting “, the State or such local authority”, and

(iv) in subclause (B) by deleting “, the State or such local authority”.

(2) (a) Subject to paragraph (b), paragraph (b) of subsection (1) comes into operation on 1 July 2010.

(b) Paragraph (b) of subsection (1), in so far as it applies to the supply of community facilities, comes into operation on such day or days as the Minister may by order appoint and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different community facilities.

(c) For the purposes of paragraph (b), “community facilities” means—

(i) facilities for taking part in sporting or physical education activities and services closely related to the provision of such facilities, other than facilities for taking part in golf and for this purpose facilities for taking part in golf do not include facilities for taking part in pitch and putt, and

(ii) the hiring of halls, meeting rooms, grounds and other facilities of a similar nature to non-profit making sporting, cultural, social and community organisations.

(d) Paragraph (c) of subsection (1) shall not affect the validity of any determination made under subsection (3E) of section 8 of the Principal Act before 8 March 2010 by an authorised officer within the meaning of the said subsection (3E), and any such determination shall continue in force as if paragraph (c) of subsection (1) had not been enacted.

24 OJ No. L 347, 11.12.2006, p.1