Finance Act 2010

Amendment of section 826 (agreements for relief from double taxation) of Principal Act.

157.— For the purposes of assisting the prevention and detection of tax evasion, section 826 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (1)(a)(ii) by deleting “or” in clause (I) and inserting “or” after “for the purposes of tax,” in clause (II),

(b) in subsection (1)(a)(ii) by inserting the following after clause (II):

“(III) collecting and recovering tax (including interest, penalties and costs in connection with such tax) for the purposes of the prevention of tax evasion,”,

(c) by inserting the following after subsection (1B):

“(1C) Where—

(a) the Government by order declares that it has become a signatory to the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters which was done at Strasbourg on the 25th day of January 1988, or any Protocol to the Convention, for the purposes of the prevention and detection of tax evasion in the case of taxes of any kind or description imposed by the laws of the State or the laws of the territories of the signatories other than the State to the Convention and that it is expedient that the Convention, or any Protocol to the Convention, should have the force of law, and

(b) the order so made is referred to in Part 4 of Schedule 24A,

then, subject to this section, the Convention or any Protocol to the Convention shall, notwithstanding any enactment, have the force of law as if the order were an Act of the Oireachtas on and from the date of the insertion of a reference to the order into Part 4 of Schedule 24A.”,

and

(d) by substituting the following for the subsection (7):

“(7) Where any arrangements have, or the Convention has, the force of law by virtue of this section, the obligation as to secrecy imposed by any enactment shall not prevent the Revenue Commissioners or any authorised officer of the Revenue Commissioners from disclosing to any authorised officer of the government with which arrangements have been made, or of a party to the Convention, as the case may be, such information as is required to be disclosed for the purposes of the arrangements or the Convention.”.