Finance Act 2020
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Amendment of Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020 | ||
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64. The Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020 is amended by inserting the following section after section 28B: | ||
“Covid-19: special warehousing and interest (relevant tax due under section 28(9)) | ||
28C. (1) In this section— | ||
‘the Acts’ means— | ||
(a) Parts 18C and 18D, | ||
(b) the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 and the enactments amending or extending that Act, | ||
(c) the Capital Acquisitions Tax Consolidation Act 2003 and the enactments amending or extending that Act, | ||
(d) the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010 and the enactments amending or extending that Act, | ||
(e) the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 and the enactments amending or extending that Act, | ||
(f) the Customs Act 2015 and the enactments amending or extending that Act, | ||
(g) the Capital Gains Tax Acts, | ||
(h) the Tax Acts, | ||
(i) the statutes relating to the duties of excise and to the management of those duties, | ||
(j) this Act, and | ||
(k) any instruments made under any of the enactments referred to in paragraphs (a) to (j); | ||
‘Covid-19 relevant tax’ means relevant tax, as referred to in subsection (10) of section 28, due and payable during Period 1 in accordance with that subsection; | ||
‘Period 1’, in relation to an employer, means the period— | ||
(a) beginning on 26 March 2020, and | ||
(b) ending on the last day of the taxable period next following the taxable period in which the recommencement date falls; | ||
‘Period 2’, in relation to an employer, means the period— | ||
(a) beginning on the day next following the last day of Period 1, and | ||
(b) ending on— | ||
(i) the day that is the earlier of— | ||
(I) the day that is 12 months from the day first-mentioned in paragraph (a), and | ||
(II) 31 December 2022, | ||
or | ||
(ii) where the Minister makes an order for the purposes of this subparagraph, the day that is the earlier of— | ||
(I) the day specified in the order, and | ||
(II) 31 December 2022; | ||
‘Period 3’, in relation to an employer, means the period— | ||
(a) beginning on the day next following the last day of Period 2, and | ||
(b) ending on the day on which the employer has discharged the employer’s liability in respect of Covid-19 relevant tax in full; | ||
‘recommencement date’, in relation to an employer, means the later of— | ||
(a) the day on which the employer’s business ceased to be subject to restrictions provided for in regulations made under sections 5 and 31A of the Health Act 1947 , and | ||
(b) where it is demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that the business did not recommence on the day referred to in paragraph (a), the day on which the business recommenced after it ceased to be subject to the restrictions referred to in that paragraph; | ||
‘taxable period’ has the same meaning as it has in the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010 . | ||
(2) This section shall apply to an employer— | ||
(a) who, as a consequence of the effect on the employer’s business of Covid-19 is unable to pay all or part of the employer’s liability in respect of Covid-19 relevant tax, | ||
(b) who complies with the requirements under Chapter 4 of Part 42 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 and this Part, and | ||
(c) either— | ||
(i) the employer’s tax affairs are administered by the Personal Division or Business Division of the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, or | ||
(ii) the employer has formed the view that the employer is unable to pay all or part of the employer’s liability in respect of Covid-19 relevant tax and has notified the Revenue Commissioners that the employer has formed such a view. | ||
(3) For the purposes of subsection (2)(c)(i), an employer’s tax affairs shall be treated as being administered by the Personal Division or Business Division of the Office of the Revenue Commissioners where the most recent correspondence received by the employer from that Office indicates that to be the case. | ||
(4) An officer authorised under section 990 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 may make such enquiries as he or she considers necessary to satisfy himself or herself as to whether an employer is unable to pay the employer’s liability in respect of Covid-19 relevant tax. | ||
(5) Where this section applies to an employer, section 28(13) shall not apply to the employer’s liability in respect of Covid-19 relevant tax. | ||
(6) Where— | ||
(a) this section applies to an employer, and | ||
(b) the employer complies with the employer’s obligations under the Acts, | ||
no interest shall be due and payable by the employer in relation to the employer’s liability in respect of Covid-19 relevant tax during Period 1 and Period 2. | ||
(7) Where— | ||
(a) this section applies to an employer, | ||
(b) the employer complies with the employer’s obligations under the Acts, | ||
(c) the employer has, prior to Period 3, entered into an agreement with the Collector-General to pay the employer’s liability in respect of Covid-19 relevant tax, together with interest under this subsection, and | ||
(d) the employer complies with the obligations of the employer under the agreement referred to in paragraph (c), | ||
from the first day of Period 3 simple interest shall be paid by the employer to the Revenue Commissioners in relation to any amount of the Covid-19 relevant tax remaining unpaid and such interest shall be calculated from that day until payment of the amount for any day or part of a day during which that amount remains unpaid, at a rate of 0.0082 per cent. | ||
(8) Where an employer— | ||
(a) during Period 1 or Period 2, fails to comply with an obligation referred to in subsection (6)(b), | ||
(b) on the first day of Period 3, has not entered into an agreement referred to in subsection (7)(c), or | ||
(c) during Period 3, fails to comply with an obligation referred to in subsection (7)(b) or (d), | ||
simple interest shall be paid by the employer to the Revenue Commissioners in relation to the employer’s liability in respect of Covid-19 relevant tax from— | ||
(i) in a case in which paragraph (a) or (c) applies, the date on which the event resulting in failure to comply with the obligation concerned occurred, and | ||
(ii) in a case in which paragraph (b) applies, the first day of Period 3, | ||
and such interest shall be calculated from that day until payment of the amount for any day or part of a day during which that amount remains unpaid, at a rate of 0.0219 per cent. | ||
(9) Where an employer has complied with the requirements under Chapter 4 of Part 42 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 and this Part, the failure of the employer to pay Covid-19 relevant tax shall not, for the purpose of section 1094 or 1095 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 , be treated as a failure to comply with the obligations imposed on the employer by the Acts (within the meaning of section 1094 or 1095, as the case may be). | ||
(10) Section 960E(2) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 shall not apply in respect of Covid-19 relevant tax where the employer concerned complies with the employer’s requirements under Chapter 4 of Part 42 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 and this Part. | ||
(11) (a) The Minister may, in order to mitigate the adverse economic consequences resulting, or likely to result, from the spread of Covid-19, by order specify a day for the purpose of subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (b) of the definition of ‘Period 2’ in subsection (1). | ||
(b) The Minister shall not specify in an order under paragraph (a) a day that falls after 31 December 2022. | ||
(c) An order under this subsection shall be laid before Dáil Éireann as soon as may be after it has been made and, if a resolution annulling the order is passed by Dáil Éireann within the next 21 days on which Dáil Éireann has sat after the order is laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.”. |