Finance Act 2009

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Amendment of Part 9 (levies) of Principal Act.

26.— (1) Part 9 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by inserting the following after section 124A:

“Certain premiums of life assurance.

124B.— (1) In this section—

‘ assessable amount ’, in relation to a quarter, means the gross amount received by an insurer by means of premiums in that quarter for policies of insurance referred to in classes I, II, III, IV, V and VI of Annex I to the Directive, to the extent that the risks to which those policies of insurance relate are located in the State (being risks deemed to be located in the State by virtue of section 61);

‘ Directive ’ means Directive 2002/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 November 2002 ¹ concerning life assurance;

‘ due date ’ means, in respect of the quarter ending on—

(a) 31 March in any year, 30 April in the same year,

(b) 30 June in any year, 31 July in the same year,

(c) 30 September in any year, 31 October in the same year, and

(d) 31 December in any year, 31 January in the following year;

‘ insurer ’ means—

(a) a person who is the holder of an assurance licence under the Insurance Act 1936 ,

(b) the holder of an authorisation within the meaning of the European Communities (Life Assurance) Framework Regulations 1994 ( S.I. No. 360 of 1994 ), or

(c) the holder of an official authorisation to undertake insurance in Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway, pursuant to the EEA Agreement within the meaning of the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1993 , who is carrying on the business of life assurance in the State;

‘life assurance’ means insurance of a class referred to in Annex I to the Directive;

‘premium’ has the same meaning as in the Insurance Act 1936 ;

‘ quarter’ , in relation to a year, means a period of 3 months ending on 31 March, 30 June, 30 September or 31 December.

(2) An insurer shall, in each year, not later than the due date for each quarter, commencing with the quarter ending on 30 September 2009, deliver to the Commissioners a statement in writing showing the assessable amount for the insurer in respect of that quarter.

(3) There shall be charged on every statement delivered pursuant to subsection (2) a stamp duty of an amount equal to 1 per cent of the assessable amount shown in the statement.

(4) The duty charged by subsection (3) on a statement delivered by an insurer pursuant to subsection (2) shall be paid by the insurer to the Commissioners on delivery of the statement.

(5) There shall be furnished to the Commissioners by an insurer such particulars as the Commissioners may deem necessary in relation to any statement required by this section to be delivered by the insurer.

(6) In the case of failure by an insurer—

(a) to deliver not later than the due date any statement required to be delivered by the insurer pursuant to subsection (2), or

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

the insurer shall—

(i) from that due date until the day on which the stamp duty is paid, be liable to pay, in addition to the stamp duty, interest on the stamp duty calculated in accordance with section 159D, and

(ii) from that due date, be liable to pay a penalty of €380 for each day the stamp duty remains unpaid.

(7) Where during any quarter but before the due date—

(a) an insurer ceases to carry on a business in the course of which the insurer is required to deliver a statement (in this subsection referred to as the ‘ first-men tioned statement ’) pursuant to subsection (2) (including any case where the insurer is so required by virtue of the prior operation of this subsection) but has not done so before that cesser, and

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

then—

(i) the insurer is not required to deliver the first-mentioned statement, and

(ii) the successor shall—

(I) where the successor is, apart from this subsection, required to deliver a statement (in this subsection referred to as the ‘second-mentioned statement’) pursuant to subsection (2) (including any case where the successor is so required by virtue of the prior operation of this subsection) in respect of the same quarter but has not done so before that acquisition, include in that second-mentioned statement the assessable amount that would have been required to have been shown in the first-mentioned statement had the insurer not ceased to carry on the business concerned,

(II) where subparagraph (I) does not apply, deliver the first-mentioned statement as if the successor were the insurer.

(8) 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.”,

(b) in section 125(3) by substituting “3 per cent” for “2 per cent”, and

(c) in section 126B(1) by substituting the following for the definition of “specified section”:

“ ‘ specified section ’ means section 123, 123A, 123B, 123C, 124, 124A, 124B or 125.”.

(2) (a) In this subsection “assessable amount”, “premiums” and “insurer” have, respectively, the meanings given to them in section 124B(1) (inserted by this section) of the Principal Act.

(b) Subsection (1)(a) applies as respects so much of the assessable amount as is comprised of premiums received on or after 1 August 2009 in respect of contracts of insurance whenever entered into by an insurer.

(3) (a) In this subsection “assessable amount”, “premiums” and “insurer” have, respectively, the meanings given to them in section 125(1) of the Principal Act.

(b) Subsection (1)(b) applies as respects so much of the assessable amount as is comprised of premiums received on or after 1 June 2009 in respect of offers of insurance or notices of renewal of insurance issued by an insurer on or after 8 April 2009.

¹OJ No. L345, 19 December 2002, p.1.