Finance Act 2010

Payment of tax by means of donation of heritage property.

28.— (1) Section 1003A of the Principal Act is amended in subsection (1)—

(a) in the definition of “contents of the building” by substituting “the Minister is satisfied or, as appropriate, the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland are satisfied” for “the Minister is satisfied”, and

(b) by substituting the following for the definition of “relevant gift”:

“ ‘relevant gift’ means a gift of heritage property to the Trust or, as appropriate, to the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland 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 from those Commissioners or otherwise;”.

(2) Section 1003A of the Principal Act is amended by substituting the following for subsection (2):

“(2) (a) In this section ‘heritage property’ means a building or a garden which, on application in writing to the Minister or, as appropriate, to the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland in that behalf by a person who owns the building or the garden is, subject to the provisions of this subsection, determined by the Minister or, as appropriate, by those Commissioners 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 or, as appropriate, by the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland,

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) An application for a determination under this subsection shall be made to the Minister where it relates to a relevant gift to be made to the Trust or shall be made to the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland where it relates to a relevant gift to be made to those Commissioners.

(c) In considering an application for a determination under this subsection, the Minister or, as appropriate, the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland shall consider such evidence as the person making the application submits.

(d) On receipt of an application for a determination under this subsection, the Minister or, as appropriate, the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland shall request the Revenue Commissioners in writing to value the property in accordance with subsection (3).

(e) The Minister or, as appropriate, the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland shall not, during any calendar year, make a determination under this subsection 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 has been made or determinations have been made, as the case may be, under this subsection whether by the Minister or by the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland in that calendar year and not revoked in that calendar year.

(f) The Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland shall not make a determination under this subsection without the consent in writing of the Minister for Finance and any such determination shall be subject to such conditions as may be specified by the Minister for Finance.

(g) The Minister and the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland shall, as appropriate, consult with each other in connection with the general application of this section and in particular for the purposes of the application of paragraph (e).

(h) (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 or, as appropriate, the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland,

(II) the owner of the property notifies the Trust or, as appropriate, the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland in writing that it is not intended to make a gift of the property to the Trust or, as appropriate, those Commissioners, or

(III) the gift of the property is not made to the Trust or, as appropriate, to the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland by the end of the calendar year following the calendar year in which the determination is made under this subsection.

(ii) Where the Minister becomes aware or, as appropriate, the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland become aware, at any time within the calendar year in which a determination under this subsection is made in respect of a property, that clause (I) or (II) of subparagraph (i) applies to the property, the Minister or, as appropriate, those Commissioners may revoke the determination with effect from that time.”.

(3) Section 1003A of the Principal Act is amended by substituting the following for subsection (4):

“(4) Where a relevant gift is made to the Trust or, as appropriate, to the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland—

(a) the Trust or, as appropriate, those Commissioners 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 or, as appropriate, to the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, and

(b) the Trust or, as appropriate, the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland shall transmit a duplicate of the certificate to the Revenue Commissioners.”.