Value-Added Tax Act, 1972

Accountable persons.

8.—(1) In this section references to a farming business or a fishing business do not include references to—

(a) the operation of a nursery or garden for the sale of produce,

(b) commercial production of poultry or eggs,

(c) fur farming, or

(d) fish farming.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), a person who, otherwise than as the employee of another person, engages in the delivery of taxable goods or the rendering of taxable services in the course of business, whether or not for profit, shall, in addition to the persons referred to in section 4 (5), be an accountable person and shall be accountable for and liable to pay the tax charged under section 2 (1) (a) in respect of such delivery or rendering. The State and a local authority shall also be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to be accountable persons in relation to the provision by them of any of the services specified in paragraph (x) of the Second Schedule.

(3) The following persons shall not, unless they otherwise elect and then only during the period for which such election has effect, be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to be accountable persons—

(a) a person whose deliveries of taxable goods or rendering of taxable services in the course of business consist exclusively of—

(i) deliveries of goods of a kind specified in paragraphs (i) to (iv), (vi), subparagraphs (d) and (r) of paragraph (x) and paragraphs (xv), (xxii) and (xxiii) of Part 1 of the Third Schedule which he has produced in the course of a farming business, or caught in the course of a fishing business,

(ii) deliveries of machinery, plant or other equipment which has been used by him in the course of a farming or a fishing business,

(iii) rendering of cultivating, fertilising, sowing, harvesting or similar agricultural services, and

(iv) deliveries of goods and rendering of services other than those referred to in subparagraphs (i) to (iii) the total consideration for which has not exceeded and is not likely to exceed £1,800 in any period consisting of six consecutive taxable periods;

(b) (i) subject to subparagraph (ii), a person for whose delivery of taxable goods and rendering of taxable services the total consideration has not exceeded and is not likely to exceed £2,000 in any taxable period,

(ii) subparagraph (i) shall apply if, but only if, not less than 90 per cent. of the total consideration referred to therein is derived from the delivery of taxable goods which the person therein referred to has imported or which have been delivered to him by other accountable persons and not less than 50 per cent. of such consideration is derived from the delivery of goods and the rendering of services chargeable with tax at the rate of 5·26 per cent.;

(c) (i) subject to subparagraph (ii), a person for whose delivery of taxable goods and rendering of taxable services the total consideration has not exceeded and is not likely to exceed £1,000 in any taxable period,

(ii) subparagraph (i) shall apply if, but only if, not less than 90 per cent. of the total consideration referred to therein is derived from the delivery of taxable goods;

(d) a person, other than a person to whom paragraph (a), (b) or (c) applies, for whose delivery of taxable goods and rendering of taxable services the total consideration has not exceeded and is not likely to exceed £300 in any taxable period.

(4) Where, by virtue of subsection (3) or (6), a person has not been an accountable person and a change of circumstances occurs which continues beyond the end of the taxable period next after the taxable period or the period referred to in subsection (3) (a) (iv), as the case may be, during which such change occurs whereby he can no longer be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, not to be an accountable person by virtue of either of those subsections, he shall be deemed, for those purposes, to be an accountable person immediately after the end of the first mentioned taxable period.

(5) Provision may be made by regulation for the cancellation, at the request of a person, of an election made by him under this section and for the payment by him to the Revenue Commissioners of such a sum as a condition of cancellation as when added to the net total amount of tax (if any) paid by him in accordance with section 19 in relation to the delivery of goods or the rendering of services by him in the period for which the election had effect is equal to the amount of tax repaid to him during such period in respect of tax borne or paid in relation to the delivery of such goods or the rendering of such services.

(6) An accountable person, other than a person to whom subsection (5) applies, may, in accordance with regulations, at his request, be treated, for the purposes of this Act, as a person who is not an accountable person if—

(a) he satisfies the Revenue Commissioners that his turnover—

(i) is permanently of such a character that, in the absence of an election in that behalf, he would not be an accountable person in accordance with the provisions of subsection (3) (a), or

(ii) has fallen below and remains permanently below such amount as may be appropriate in the particular case having regard to subsection (3) (b), (3) (c) or (3) (d),

and

(b) he pays to the Revenue Commissioners such a sum as when added to the net total amount of tax (if any) paid by him in accordance with section 19 in relation to the delivery of goods or the rendering of services by him in respect of the period for which he was an accountable person is equal to the amount of tax repaid to him during such period in respect of tax borne or paid in relation to the delivery of such goods or the rendering of such services,

and he shall be treated, for the purposes of this Act, as a person who is not an accountable person immediately after the end of the period in relation to which the provisions of this subsection are complied with by him.

(7) Where goods are supplied or services are provided by a club or other similar organisation in respect of a payment of money by any of its members, then, for the purposes of this Act—

(a) the supply of the goods shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to be a delivery of the goods in the course of business, the money shall be deemed, for the said purposes, to be consideration for the delivery and the club or other organisation shall be deemed, for the said purposes, to be the person making the delivery, and

(b) the provision of the services shall be deemed, for the said purposes, to be a rendering of the services in the course of business.

(8) Notwithstanding anything in this section a person—

(a) who does not deliver taxable goods or render taxable services within the State, and

(b) who is not residing or established in the State,

shall not be an accountable person.

(9) Provision may be made by regulation whereby, if the Revenue Commissioners are satisfied that the business activities of two or more accountable persons are so interlinked that it would be expedient, in the interests of efficient administration of the tax to do so, then, at the request of the accountable persons concerned—

(a) those activities may be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to be carried on by any one of the persons and all transactions by or between such persons shall be deemed, for those purposes, to be transactions by that one person and all other rights and obligations under this Act shall be determined accordingly, and

(b) each such person may be made jointly and severally liable to comply with all the provisions of this Act and regulations (including the provisions requiring the payment of tax) that apply to those persons and subject to the penalties under this Act to which they would be subject if each such person was liable to pay to the Revenue Commissioners the whole of the tax chargeable, apart from regulations under this subsection, in respect of all such persons.