Social Welfare And Pensions (No. 2) Act 2009
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Limitation on return of contributions. |
8.— (1) The Principal Act is amended by inserting the following section after section 38: | |
“Limitation on return of contributions. | ||
38A.— (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), an application, pursuant to section 34, 37 or 38, for the return of contributions shall be made— | ||
(a) within 4 years of the last day of the contribution year in respect of which the contributions concerned were paid, and | ||
(b) in such manner as the Minister or the Collector General, as appropriate, may from time to time determine. | ||
(2) Subsection (1) shall not apply where— | ||
(a) an application for the return of contributions was made on or before 31 December 2009, or | ||
(b) the return of contributions is pursuant to a decision of a deciding officer or, where such decision is appealed, an appeals officer— | ||
(i) on a question referred to in subparagraph (iv), (v), (vi), (x), (xi) or (xii) of section 300(2)(a), and | ||
(ii) the request for such decision was received by the Minister on or before 31 December 2009. | ||
(3) A return of contributions may be subject to all or any of the following: | ||
(a) a deduction of the amount of any contributions which— | ||
(i) were paid at an incorrect rate in respect of an insured person, and | ||
(ii) were treated, under Article 71(1) of the Social Welfare (Consolidated Contributions and Insurability) Regulations ( S.I. No. 312 of 1996 ), as paid on account of contributions properly payable in respect of such person; | ||
(b) a deduction of an amount equivalent to the amount of any benefit paid to the person by reason of contributions having been paid in error. | ||
(4) Regulations may provide for the method of calculation of the amount of any contributions due to be repaid. | ||
(5) In this section— | ||
‘ benefit ’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 7(2); | ||
‘ contributions ’ means— | ||
(a) employment contributions, | ||
(b) self-employment contributions, | ||
(c) voluntary contributions, or | ||
(d) optional contributions.”. | ||
(2) This section comes into operation on 1 January 2010. |