Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Act 2020
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Covid-19: special warehousing and interest provisions (value-added tax) | ||
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4. The Act of 2010 is amended by inserting the following section after section 114A: | ||
“Covid-19: special warehousing and interest provisions | ||
114B. (1) In this section— | ||
‘the Acts’ means— | ||
(a) this Act, other than this section, | ||
(b) Parts 18C and 18D of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 , | ||
(c) the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 and the enactments amending or extending that Act, | ||
(d) the Capital Acquisitions Tax Consolidation Act 2003 and the enactments amending or extending that Act, | ||
(e) the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 and the enactments amending or extending that Act, | ||
(f) the Customs Act 2015 and the enactments amending or extending that Act, | ||
(g) the Capital Gains Tax Acts, | ||
(h) the Tax Acts, within the meaning of section 1 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 , | ||
(i) the statutes relating to the duties of excise and to the management of those duties, and | ||
(j) any instruments made under any of the enactments referred to in paragraphs (a) to (i); | ||
‘Covid-19’ has the same meaning as it has in the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020 ; | ||
‘Covid-19 liabilities’ means, subject to subsection (14), value-added tax due and payable by an accountable person under this Act and any regulations made under this Act, in respect of taxable periods in Period 1; | ||
‘Period 1’, in relation to an accountable person, means the period— | ||
(a) beginning on the later of— | ||
(i) the first day of the taxable period immediately preceding the taxable period in which the accountable person’s business was first adversely affected by Covid-19, and | ||
(ii) 1 January 2020, | ||
and | ||
(b) ending on the last day of the taxable period next following the taxable period in which the recommencement date falls; | ||
‘Period 2’, in relation to an accountable person, means the period— | ||
(a) beginning on the day next following the last day of Period 1, and | ||
(b) ending on— | ||
(i) the day that is the earlier of— | ||
(I) the day that is 12 months from the day first-mentioned in paragraph (a), and | ||
(II) 31 December 2022, | ||
or | ||
(ii) where the Minister makes an order for the purposes of this subparagraph, the day that is the earlier of— | ||
(I) the day specified in the order, and | ||
(II) 31 December 2022; | ||
‘Period 3’, in relation to an accountable person, means the period— | ||
(a) beginning on the day next following the last day of Period 2, and | ||
(b) ending on the day on which the accountable person has discharged the Covid-19 liabilities in full; | ||
‘recommencement date’, in relation to an accountable person, means the later of— | ||
(a) the day on which the accountable person’s business ceased to be subject to restrictions provided for in regulations made under sections 5 and 31A of the Health Act 1947 , and | ||
(b) where it is demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that the business did not recommence on the day referred to in paragraph (a), the day on which the business recommenced after it ceased to be subject to the restrictions referred to in that paragraph. | ||
(2) For the purposes of this section, the business of an accountable person shall be treated as being adversely affected by Covid-19 on the date on which the Revenue Commissioners agreed to temporarily suspend the liabilities of the accountable person in respect of value-added tax as a consequence of the effect on the accountable person’s business of Covid-19. | ||
(3) This section shall apply to an accountable person— | ||
(a) who, as a consequence of the effect on the accountable person’s business of Covid-19 is unable to pay all or part of the accountable person’s Covid-19 liabilities, | ||
(b) who complies with the requirements to furnish returns under Chapter 3 of Part 9, and | ||
(c) either— | ||
(i) the accountable person’s tax affairs are administered by the Personal Division or Business Division of the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, or | ||
(ii) the accountable person has formed the view that the accountable person is unable to pay all or part of the accountable person’s Covid-19 liabilities and has notified the Revenue Commissioners that the accountable person has formed such a view. | ||
(4) For the purposes of subsection (3)(c)(i), an accountable person’s tax affairs shall be treated as being administered by the Personal Division or Business Division of the Office of the Revenue Commissioners where the most recent correspondence received by the accountable person from that Office indicates that to be the case. | ||
(5) An inspector of taxes, or such other officer as the Revenue Commissioners have nominated for the purposes of section 111, may make such enquiries as he or she considers necessary to satisfy himself or herself as to whether an accountable person is unable to pay all or part of the accountable person’s Covid-19 liabilities. | ||
(6) Where this section applies to an accountable person, section 114 shall not apply to the accountable person’s Covid-19 liabilities. | ||
(7) Where— | ||
(a) this section applies to an accountable person, and | ||
(b) the accountable person complies with the accountable person’s obligations under the Acts, | ||
no interest shall be due and payable by the accountable person in respect of the accountable person’s Covid-19 liabilities during Period 1 and Period 2. | ||
(8) Where— | ||
(a) this section applies to an accountable person, | ||
(b) the accountable person complies with the accountable person’s obligations under the Acts, | ||
(c) the accountable person has prior to Period 3, entered into an agreement with the Collector-General to pay the accountable person’s Covid-19 liabilities, together with interest under this section, and | ||
(d) the accountable person complies with the obligations of the accountable person under the agreement referred to in paragraph (c), | ||
interest shall be paid by the accountable person in respect of the Covid-19 liabilities from the first day of Period 3 and the amount of that interest shall be determined in accordance with subsection (9). | ||
(9) The interest referred to in subsection (8) shall be the amount determined by the formula— | ||
DL x D x P | ||
where— | ||
DL is the amount of the Covid-19 liabilities which remains unpaid on the first day of Period 3, | ||
D is the number of days (including part of a day) forming Period 3, and | ||
P is 0.0082 per cent. | ||
(10) Where an accountable person— | ||
(a) during Period 1 or Period 2, fails to comply with an obligation referred to in subsection (7)(b), | ||
(b) on the first day of Period 3, has not entered into an agreement referred to in subsection (8)(c), or | ||
(c) during Period 3, fails to comply with an obligation referred to in subsection (8)(b) or (d), | ||
interest shall be paid by the accountable person in respect of the accountable person’s Covid-19 liabilities from— | ||
(i) in a case in which paragraph (a) or (c) applies, the date on which the event resulting in failure to comply with the obligation concerned occurred, and | ||
(ii) in a case in which paragraph (b) applies, the first day of Period 3, | ||
and the amount of that interest shall be determined in accordance with subsection (11). | ||
(11) The interest referred to in subsection (10) shall be the amount determined by the formula— | ||
DL x D x P | ||
where— | ||
DL is the amount of the Covid-19 liabilities which remains unpaid on the date referred to in subsection (10), | ||
D is the number of days (including part of a day) during which the Covid-19 liabilities remain unpaid, and | ||
P is 0.0274 per cent. | ||
(12) Where an accountable person has complied with the requirements to file returns under Chapter 3 of Part 9, the failure of the accountable person to pay Covid-19 liabilities shall not, for the purpose of section 1094 or 1095 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 , be treated as a failure to comply with the obligations imposed on the accountable person by the Acts (within the meaning of section 1094 or 1095 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 , as the case may be). | ||
(13) Section 960E(2) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 shall not apply in respect of Covid-19 liabilities where the accountable person concerned complies with the requirements to furnish returns under Chapter 3 of Part 9. | ||
(14) Where an accountable person— | ||
(a) is an authorised person for the purposes of section 77, and | ||
(b) has been authorised to use an accounting period, within the meaning of that section, of 12 months’ duration which ends— | ||
(i) in that part of Period 1 which is on or after 1 February 2020, or | ||
(ii) in the month immediately following Period 1, | ||
the value-added tax due and payable for that accounting period by the accountable person under this Act and any regulations under this Act shall be treated as Covid-19 liabilities. | ||
(15) (a) The Minister may, in order to mitigate the adverse economic consequences resulting, or likely to result, from the spread of Covid-19, by order specify a day for the purpose of subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (b) of the definition of ‘Period 2’ in subsection (1). | ||
(b) The Minister shall not specify in an order under paragraph (a) a day that falls after 31 December 2022. | ||
(c) An order under this subsection shall be laid before Dáil Éireann as soon as may be after it has been made and, if a resolution annulling the order is passed by Dáil Éireann within the next 21 days on which Dáil Éireann has sat after the order is laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.”. |