Finance Act 2006

Payment of tax by means of donation of heritage property to an Irish heritage trust.

122.— (1) The Principal Act is amended in Chapter 5 of Part 42 by inserting the following after section 1003:

“1003A.— (1) In this section—

‘the Acts’ means—

(a) the Tax Acts (other than Chapter 8 of Part 6, Chapter 2 of Part 18 and Chapter 4 of this Part),

(b) the Capital Gains Tax Acts, and

(c) the Capital Acquisitions Tax Consolidation Act 2003 , and the enactments amending or extending that Act,

and any instruments made thereunder;

‘arrears of tax’ means tax due and payable in accordance with any provision of the Acts (including any interest and penalties payable under any provision of the Acts in relation to such tax)—

(a) in the case of income tax, corporation tax or capital gains tax, in respect of the relevant period, or

(b) in the case of gift tax or inheritance tax, before the commencement of the calendar year in which the relevant gift is made,

which has not been paid at the time a relevant gift is made;

‘contents of the building’ means furnishings historically associated with the building and in respect of which the Minister is satisfied that they are important to establishing the historic or aesthetic context of the building;

‘current liability’ means—

(a) in the case of income tax or capital gains tax, any liability to such tax arising in the year of assessment in which the relevant gift is made,

(b) in the case of corporation tax, any liability to such tax arising in the accounting period in which the relevant gift is made,

(c) in the case of gift tax or inheritance tax, any liability to such tax which becomes due and payable in the calendar year in which the relevant gift is made;

‘heritage property’ has the meaning assigned to it by subsection (2)(a);

‘market value’ has the meaning assigned to it by subsection (3);

‘Minister’ means the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government;

‘relevant gift’ means a gift of heritage property to the Trust in respect of which no consideration whatever (other than relief under this section) is received by the person making the gift, either directly or indirectly, from the Trust or otherwise;

‘relevant period’ means—

(a) in the case of income tax and capital gains tax, any year of assessment preceding the year in which the relevant gift is made, and

(b) in the case of corporation tax, any accounting period preceding the accounting period in which the relevant gift is made;

‘tax’ means income tax, corporation tax, capital gains tax, gift tax or inheritance tax, as the case may be, payable in accordance with any provision of the Acts;

‘Trust’ means the company designated for the purposes of this section by the order referred to in section 122 (2) of the Finance Act 2006;

‘valuation date’ means the date on which an application is made to the Minister for a determination under subsection (2)(a).

(2) (a) In this section ‘heritage property’ means a building or a garden which, on application to the Minister in writing in that behalf by a person who owns the building or the garden is, subject to the provisions of paragraph (b), determined by the Minister to be a building or a garden which is—

(i) an outstanding example of the type of building or garden involved,

(ii) pre-eminent in its class,

(iii) intrinsically of significant scientific, historical, horticultural, national, architectural or aesthetic interest, and

(iv) suitable for acquisition by the Trust,

and, for the purposes of this section, a reference to ‘building’ includes—

(I) any associated outbuilding, yard or land where the land is occupied or enjoyed with the building as part of its garden or designed landscape and contributes to the appreciation of the building in its setting, and

(II) the contents of the building.

(b) In considering an application under paragraph (a), the Minister shall consider such evidence as the person making the application submits to the Minister.

(c) On receipt of an application for a determination under paragraph (a), the Minister shall request the Revenue Commissioners in writing to value the heritage property in accordance with subsection (3).

(d) The Minister shall not make a determination under paragraph (a) where the market value of the property, as determined by the Revenue Commissioners in accordance with subsection (3), at the valuation date exceeds an amount determined by the formula—

€6,000,000 - M

where M is an amount (which may be nil) equal to the market value at the valuation date of the heritage property (if any) or the aggregate of the market values at the respective valuation dates of all the heritage properties (if any), as the case may be, in respect of which a determination or determinations, as the case may be, under this subsection has been made by the Minister in any one calendar year and not revoked in that year.

(e) (i) A property shall cease to be a heritage property for the purposes of this section if—

(I) the property is sold or otherwise disposed of to a person other than the Trust,

(II) the owner of the property notifies the Trust in writing that it is not intended to make a gift of the property to the Trust, or

(III) the gift of the property is not made to the Trust within the calendar year following the year in which the determination is made under paragraph (a).

(ii) Where the Minister becomes aware, at any time within the calendar year in which a determination under paragraph (a) is made in respect of a property, that clause (I) or (II) of subparagraph (i) applies to the property, the Minister may revoke the determination with effect from that time.

(3) (a) For the purposes of this section, the market value of any property shall be estimated to be the lesser of—

(i) the price which, in the opinion of the Revenue Commissioners, the property would fetch if sold in the open market on the valuation date in such manner and subject to such conditions as might reasonably be calculated to obtain for the vendor the best price for the property, and

(ii) (I) the price which, in the opinion of the person making the gift of the property, the property would fetch on the valuation date if sold in the manner referred to in subparagraph (i), or

(II) at the election of that person, the amount paid for the property by that person.

(b) The market value of the property shall be ascertained by the Revenue Commissioners in such manner and by such means as they think fit, and they may authorise a person to inspect the property and report to them the value of the property for the purposes of this section, and the person having custody or possession of the property shall permit the person so authorised to inspect the property at such reasonable times as the Revenue Commissioners consider necessary.

(c) Where the Revenue Commissioners require a valuation to be made by a person authorised by them, the cost of such valuation shall be defrayed by the Revenue Commissioners.

(4) Where a relevant gift is made to the Trust—

(a) the Trust shall give a certificate to the person who made the relevant gift, in such form as the Revenue Commissioners may prescribe, certifying the receipt of that gift and the transfer of the ownership of the heritage property the subject of that gift to the Trust, and

(b) the Trust shall transmit a duplicate of the certificate to the Revenue Commissioners.

(5) Subject to this section, where a person has made a relevant gift the person shall, on submission to the Revenue Commissioners of the certificate given to the person in accordance with subsection (4), be treated as having made on the date of such submission a payment on account of tax of an amount equal to the market value of the relevant gift on the valuation date.

(6) A payment on account of tax which is treated as having been made in accordance with subsection (5) shall be set in so far as possible against any liability to tax of the person who is treated as having made such a payment in the following order—

(a) firstly, against any arrears of tax due for payment by that person and against an arrear of tax for an earlier period in priority to a later period, and for this purpose the date on which an arrear of tax became due for payment shall determine whether it is for an earlier or later period, and

(b) only then, against any current liability of the person which the person nominates for that purpose,

and such set-off shall accordingly discharge a corresponding amount of that liability.

(7) To the extent that a payment on account of tax has not been set off in accordance with subsection (6), the balance remaining shall be set off against any future liability to tax of the person who is treated as having made the payment which that person nominates for that purpose.

(8) Where a person has power to sell any heritage property in order to raise money for the payment of gift tax or inheritance tax, such person shall have power to make a relevant gift of that heritage property in or towards satisfaction of that tax and, except as regards the nature of the consideration and its receipt and application, any such relevant gift shall be subject to the same provisions and shall be treated for all purposes as a sale made in exercise of that power, and any conveyances or transfers made or purporting to be made to give effect to such a relevant gift shall apply accordingly.

(9) A person shall not be entitled to any refund of tax in respect of any payment on account of tax made in accordance with this section.

(10) Interest shall not be payable in respect of any overpayment of tax for any period which arises directly or indirectly by reason of the set-off against any liability for that period of a payment on account of tax made in accordance with this section.

(11) Where a person makes a relevant gift and in respect of that gift is treated as having made a payment on account of tax, the person concerned shall not be allowed relief under any other provision of the Acts in respect of that gift.

(12) (a) The Revenue Commissioners shall as respects each year compile a list of the titles (if any), descriptions and values of the heritage properties (if any) in respect of which relief under this section has been given.

(b) Notwithstanding any obligation as to secrecy imposed on them by the Acts or the Official Secrets Act 1963 , the Revenue Commissioners shall include in their annual report to the Minister for Finance the list (if any) referred to in paragraph (a) for the year in respect of which the report is made.”.

(2) The Minister for Finance shall designate by order the company (being a company incorporated under the Companies Acts) which is to be the Trust for the purposes of section 1003A of the Principal Act (inserted by subsection (1)).

(3) Subsection (1) comes into operation on such day as the Minister for Finance may appoint by order.