Finance Act 2014

Amendment of section 825C of Principal Act (special assignee relief programme)

15. Section 825C of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (1) —

(i) by inserting the following definition:

“‘PPS number’, in relation to an individual, means the individual’s personal public service number within the meaning of section 262 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 ;”,

(ii) in paragraph (f) of the definition of “relevant income”, by substituting “any bonus, commission or other similar payments” for “any bonus payment”, and

(iii) by deleting the definition of “specified amount”,

(b) in subsection (2) —

(i) in paragraph (a) by substituting “In this section, in the case of an individual who arrives in the State in any of the tax years 2012, 2013 or 2014,” for “In this section”,

(ii) in paragraph (a)(ii) by deleting “in any of the tax years 2012, 2013 or 2014”, and

(iii) in paragraph (b) by substituting “are performed in the State for the tax years 2012, 2013 and 2014,” for “are performed in the State,”,

(c) by inserting the following after subsection (2):

“(2A) In this section, in the case of an individual who arrives in the State in any of the tax years 2015, 2016 or 2017, ‘relevant employee’ means an individual—

(a) who for the whole of the 6 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,

(b) who arrives in the State at the request of his or her relevant employer to—

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

(ii) to take up employment in the State with an associated company and to perform duties in the State for that company,

(c) who performs the duties referred to in paragraph (b) for a minimum period of 12 consecutive months from the date he or she first performs those duties in the State,

(d) who 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 paragraph (b), and

(e) in respect of whom the relevant employer or associated company certifies, in such form as the Revenue Commissioners may require, within 30 days from the employee’s arrival in the State to perform the duties referred to in paragraph (b), that the individual complies with the conditions set out in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c).

(2B) (a) In this section, ‘specified amount’, in relation to a relevant employee and a tax year, means an amount determined by the formula—

(A-B) x 30 per cent.

(b) For the purposes of paragraph (a) —

(i) ‘A’ is the amount of the relevant employee’s income, profits or gains for the tax year from the employment referred to in subsection (2)(a)(ii) or (2A)(b), as the case may be, excluding any amount that is not assessed to tax in the State, and after deducting—

(I) any contribution or qualifying premium in respect of which there is provision for a deduction under section 774(7), 787, 787E or 787N, and

(II) any amount of income, profits or gains from that employment in respect of which the relevant employee is entitled to relief under Part 35 for tax paid on such income, profits or gains under the laws of a territory other than the State,

but in respect of the tax years 2012, 2013 and 2014 where this amount exceeds €500,000, ‘A’ shall be €500,000, and

(ii) ‘B’ is €75,000.

(c) Notwithstanding paragraph (b) —

(i) where, in the tax year for which a relevant employee is first entitled to relief under this section, the period from the date the relevant employee commences the performance in the State of duties of the employment with the relevant employer or associated company to the end of the tax year is less than the tax year, ‘B’ shall be reduced proportionately,

(ii) where, in the last tax year for which a relevant employee is entitled to relief under this section, the period from the start of the tax year to the date the relevant employee ceases the performance of duties in the State of the employment with the relevant employer or associated company is less than the tax year, ‘B’ shall be reduced proportionately.”,

(d) by substituting the following for subsection (3):

“(3) (a) Subject to paragraph (b), where, for a tax year, a relevant employee—

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

(ii) performs the duties referred to in subsection (2)(a)(ii) or (2A)(b), and

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

and makes a claim in that behalf, then that relevant employee shall be entitled 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 for that tax year.

(b) With effect from the tax year 2015, paragraph (a)(i) shall apply as if the words ‘and is not resident elsewhere’ were deleted.

(c) A relevant employee shall only be entitled to relief under this section for 5 consecutive tax years commencing with the tax year for which the relevant employee is first entitled to relief under this section.”,

(e) by substituting the following for subsection (4):

“(4) For the purposes of subsections (2B)(c) and (3), the tax year for which a relevant employee is first entitled to relief under this section means—

(a) in the case of a relevant employee who arrives in the State in 2012, 2013 or 2014—

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

(ii) if not resident in the State for tax purposes for that first tax year, the tax year following that first tax year provided that for that following tax year the relevant employee is resident in the State and not resident elsewhere, or

(iii) 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 is not resident elsewhere,

but, as regards a relevant employee who arrives in the State in 2014, subparagraph (ii) shall apply as if the words ‘and not resident elsewhere’ were deleted, and subparagraph (iii) shall apply as if the words ‘and is not resident elsewhere’ were deleted,

(b) in the case of a relevant employee who arrives in the State in 2015, 2016 or 2017—

(i) the first tax year in which the employee arrives in the State for the purposes set out in subsection (2A)(b), provided that for that tax year he or she is resident in the State for tax purposes, or

(ii) 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.”,

(f) by deleting subsection (5),

(g) in subsection (6) by substituting “In any tax year in respect of which” for “In any tax year in which”,

(h) in subsection (9) by substituting “following an application, in such form as the Revenue Commissioners may require, by the relevant employer or associated company,” for “following an application by the relevant employer or associated company,”,

(i) by substituting the following for subsection (10):

“(10) On or before 23 February following each tax year, a relevant employer or associated company shall deliver to the Revenue Commissioners an annual return, in such form as the Revenue Commissioners may require, setting out—

(a) in respect of each relevant employee—

(i) the name and PPS number,

(ii) nationality,

(iii) country in which the relevant employee worked for the relevant employer prior to his or her first arrival in the State to perform duties of the relevant employment,

(iv) job title and brief description of the role of the relevant employee while availing himself or herself of relief under this section, and

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

(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 the employees referred to in paragraph (a), and

(c) the relevant employer’s or associated company’s employer registration number.”,

and

(j) by deleting subsection (11).