Finance Act 2004
|
Amendment of Part 16 (income tax relief for investment in corporate trades — business expansion scheme and seed capital scheme) of Principal Act. |
18.—(1) Part 16 of the Principal Act is amended— | |
(a) in section 489— | ||
(i) by inserting the following after subsection (4A) (inserted by the Finance Act 2002 ): | ||
“(4B) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, where— | ||
(a) (i) in accordance with section 508 relief is due in respect of an amount subscribed as nominee for a qualifying individual by the managers of a designated fund, | ||
(ii) the amount so subscribed was subscribed to the designated fund in the period beginning on 1 January 2004 and ending on 4 February 2004, and | ||
(iii) the eligible shares in respect of which the amount is subscribed by the managers of the designated fund are issued on or before 31 December 2004, | ||
or | ||
(b) eligible shares are issued by a qualifying company to a qualifying individual in the period beginning on 1 January 2004 and ending on 4 February 2004, | ||
then the qualifying individual may elect, by notice in writing to the inspector, to have the relief due given as a deduction from his or her total income for the year of assessment 2003 instead of (as provided for in subsection (3)) as a deduction from his or her total income for the year of assessment 2004.”, | ||
and | ||
(ii) in subsection (15), by substituting “4 February 2004” for “31 December 2003”, | ||
and | ||
(b) in section 490— | ||
(i) in subsection (3)(a), by substituting “subsection (4), (4A) or (4B) of section 489” for “section 489(4) or (4A)”, and | ||
(ii) in subsections (3)(b) and (4)(b), by substituting “2006” for “2003”. | ||
(2) Part 16 of the Principal Act, as amended by subsection (1), is further amended— | ||
(a) in section 489(15), by substituting “31 December 2006” for “4 February 2004”, | ||
(b) in subsections (2)(a) and (3)(a) of section 491, by substituting “€1,000,000” for “€750,000”, | ||
(c) in section 494, in subsection (2)(a)(ii), by substituting the following for clause (II): | ||
“(II) €25,000 or, in the case of the year of assessment 2001, €18,500.”, | ||
(d) in section 496(2)(a)— | ||
(i) in subparagraph (i)— | ||
(I) in clause (I), by substituting “this Part,” for “this Part, and”, | ||
(II) in clause (II), by substituting “this Part, and” for “this Part,”, and | ||
(III) by inserting the following after clause (II): | ||
“(III) as respects a subscription for eligible shares issued on or after 4 February 2004, trading operations consisting of software development services referred to in subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (a) of section 443(10) and which would be qualifying trading operations if the employment grants referred to in subparagraph (I) of that paragraph were made, shall, notwithstanding anything in subparagraph (ii), be regarded as qualifying trading operations if approval for the making of such grant is obtained,”, | ||
and | ||
(ii) in subparagraphs (iv) and (xv), by substituting “on or after 1 January 2003 and on or before 31 December 2004” for “on or after 1 January 2003”, | ||
and | ||
(e) in section 499, by inserting the following after subsection (3): | ||
“(3A) (a) A specified individual shall not have received value from a company by virtue of subsection (3)(b) where— | ||
(i) the specified individual has made an investment in the company by way of a loan, | ||
(ii) the loan is converted into eligible shares within one year of the making of the loan, and | ||
(iii) the specified individual provides a statement by the auditor of the company certifying that, in his or her opinion, the money raised by the company by way of the loan was used, and only used, by it in accordance with the provisions of section 489(1)(c). | ||
(b) Where paragraph (a) applies, conversion of the loan into eligible shares shall, notwithstanding any other provision of this Part, be treated as the making of a relevant investment by the specified individual on the date of the making of the loan. | ||
(c) For the purposes of this subsection ‘auditor’, in relation to a company, means the person or persons appointed as auditor of the company for all the purposes of the Companies Acts 1963 to 2003.”. | ||
(3) (a) Subsection (1) is deemed to have come into operation and have taken effect as on and from 1 January 2004. | ||
(b) Subject to paragraph (c), subsection (2) applies as follows— | ||
(i) as respects paragraphs (a) and (e), as on and from 4 February 2004, | ||
(ii) as respects paragraph (b), in relation to eligible shares issued on or after 1 January 2004, | ||
(iii) as respects paragraph (c), in relation to relevant investments made on or after 4 February 2004, and | ||
(iv) as respects paragraph (d), as respects subscriptions for eligible shares made on or after 4 February 2004. | ||
(c) Subsection (2) comes into operation on the making of an order to that effect by the Minister for Finance. |