Finance Act 2012

Special assignee relief programme.

14.— The Principal Act is amended in Part 34 by inserting the following after section 825B:

“825C.— (1) In this section—

‘associated company’, in relation to a relevant employer, means a company which is the relevant employer’s associated company within the meaning of section 432;

‘relevant employer’ means a company that is incorporated, and tax resident, in a country or jurisdiction with the government of which arrangements are for the time being in force by virtue of subsection (1) or (1B) of section 826;

‘relevant employment’, in relation to a relevant employee, means an employment held by the relevant employee with a relevant employer;

‘relevant income’, in relation to a relevant employee and a tax year, means the relevant employee’s income, profits or gains for a tax year from an employment with a relevant employer or with an associated company, including any specified amount for which a deduction is claimed under subsection (3) but excluding the following:

(a) any expense to which section 118 applies;

(b) any amount treated as emoluments of an employment under section 121(2)(b)(ii);

(c) any sum treated for the purposes of section 112 as a perquisite of an employment by virtue of section 122;

(d) any payment to which section 123 applies;

(e) any sum deemed to be profits or gains arising or accruing from an employment by virtue of section 127(2);

(f) any bonus payment, whether contractual or otherwise;

(g) any gain to which section 128 applies;

(h) any shares or share based remuneration provided by or on behalf of the relevant employer or associated company of the relevant employer;

‘Revenue officer’ means an officer of the Revenue Commissioners;

‘specified amount’, in relation to a relevant employee and a tax year, means an amount determined by the formula—

(A-B) × 30 per cent

where—

A is the amount of the relevant employee’s income, profits or gains from his or her employment with a relevant employer or associated company for the tax year, excluding any amount that is not assessed to tax in the State, and after deducting any contribution or qualifying premium in respect of which there is provision for a deduction under section 774(7), 787, 787E or 787N, but where this amount exceeds €500,000, A shall be €500,000 (in this section referred to as the ‘upper threshold’), and

B is €75,000 (in this section referred to as the ‘lower threshold’);

‘tax year’ means a year of assessment for income tax purposes.

(2) (a) In this section ‘relevant employee’ means an individual who—

(i) for the whole of the 12 months immediately before his or her arrival in the State was a full time employee of a relevant employer and exercised the duties of his or her employment for that relevant employer outside the State,

(ii) arrives in the State in any of the tax years 2012, 2013 or 2014, at the request of his or her relevant employer to—

(I) perform in the State the duties of his or her employment for that employer, or

(II) to take up employment in the State with an associated company,

(iii) performs the duties of his or her employment in the State for that relevant employer or for that associated company, as appropriate, for a minimum period of 12 consecutive months from the date he or she takes up residence in the State, and

(iv) was not resident in the State for the 5 tax years immediately preceding the tax year in which he or she first arrives in the State for the purposes of performing the duties referred to in subparagraph (iii).

(b) In determining whether the duties of an employment are performed in the State, any duties performed outside the State, the performance of which is merely incidental to the performance of those duties in the State, shall be treated as having been performed in the State.

(3) (a) Where, for a tax year, a relevant employee—

(i) is resident in the State for tax purposes and is not resident elsewhere,

(ii) performs in the State the duties of his or her employment with a relevant employer or the duties of an employment with an associated company, and

(iii) has relevant income from his or her relevant employer or from the associated company which is not less than €75,000,

and makes a claim in that behalf, then that relevant employee shall be entitled, in respect of each of the 5 consecutive tax years commencing with the tax year for which he or she is first entitled to relief under this section, to have an amount of income, profits or gains from his or her employment with a relevant employer or from his or her employment with an associated company equal to the specified amount deducted from the income, profits or gains to be assessed on that relevant employee.

(b) A claim made under this section shall be accompanied by a certificate from a relevant employer or associated company, as the case may be, confirming that the conditions set out in subparagraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) of subsection (2)(a) are satisfied.

(4) A relevant employee shall be first entitled to claim relief under this section only for—

(a) the first tax year in which he or she arrives in the State for the purposes set out in subsection (2)(a)(ii) provided that for that tax year he or she is resident in the State for tax purposes and not resident elsewhere,

(b) if not resident in the State for tax purposes for that first tax year, the tax year following that first year provided that for that following tax year he or she is resident in the State and not resident elsewhere, or

(c) where in that first tax year, he or she is resident in the State for tax purposes and is also resident elsewhere, the tax year following that first tax year provided that for that following tax year he or she is resident in the State for tax purposes and not resident elsewhere.

(5) Where a relevant employee performs in the State the duties of a relevant employment or the duties of an employment with an associated company for less than an entire tax year in respect of which a claim under this section is made, the upper and lower thresholds and the amount of relevant income shall be reduced proportionately.

(6) In any tax year in which a relevant employee is entitled to make a claim for relief under subsection (3), the payment or reimbursement by the relevant employer or by an associated company of—

(a) the reasonable costs associated with one return trip from the State for the relevant employee, his or her spouse or civil partner, and a child of the relevant employee or of the relevant employee’s spouse or civil partner to—

(i) the country of residence of the relevant employee before his or her arrival in the State,

(ii) the country of residence of the relevant employee at the time of first employment by the relevant employer, or

(iii) the country of which the relevant employee or his or her spouse or civil partner is a national,

and

(b) the cost of fees, not exceeding €5,000 per annum in respect of each child of the relevant employee or each child of his or her spouse or civil partner, paid to a school established in the State and which has been approved by the Minister for Education and Skills for the purposes of providing primary or post-primary education to students,

shall not be chargeable to tax.

(7) Where for a tax year a relevant employee makes a claim for relief under this section—

(a) relief shall not be given under section 823A, 825A or 472D for that tax year, and

(b) section 71(3) shall not apply to any of the income, profits or gains from an employment with a relevant employer or with an associated company.

(8) Where for a tax year a relevant employee makes a claim for relief under this section, the relevant employee shall, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in section 950 or 1084, be deemed for that tax year to be a chargeable person for the purposes of Part 41.

(9) Notwithstanding the requirement on a relevant employer or associated company, as the case may be, to deduct tax under Chapter 4 of Part 42 on the specified amount, no such tax deduction need be made where, following an application by the relevant employer or associated company, as appropriate, a Revenue officer confirms in writing that no such deduction need be made.

(10) Where for a tax year a relevant employer or associated company, as the case may be, certifies that an employee meets the conditions as set out in subparagraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) of subsection (2)(a), the relevant employer or associated company shall be required to deliver to the Revenue Commissioners an annual return setting out—

(a) in respect of each such employee—

(i) the name and PPS Number, and

(ii) the amount of income, profits or gains in respect of which tax was not deducted in accordance with subsection (9),

and

(b) details of the increase in the number of employees employed, or details of the number of employees retained, by the relevant employer or associated company as a result of the assignment to the State of employees who benefit under this section.

(11) Where for a tax year a relevant employee is entitled to relief under Part 35 for tax paid, under the laws of a territory other than the State, on the income, profits or gains from an employment with the relevant employer or with an associated company, the amount of such income, profits or gains shall be excluded from the construction of ‘A’ in the formula in the definition of ‘specified amount’ in subsection (1).

(12) Notwithstanding anything in the Tax Acts, the income, profits or gains from an employment with a relevant employer or with an associated company shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed not to include any amounts paid in respect of expenses for which deductions would be due under section 114.”.