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6 1967

INCOME TAX ACT, 1967

Chapter IV

Income Tax in Respect of Certain Emoluments

Interpretation.

124. —In this Chapter, except where the context otherwise requires—

emoluments” means anything assessable to income tax under Schedule E and references to payments of emoluments include references to payments on account of emoluments;

employee” means any person in receipt of emoluments;

employer” means any person paying emoluments;

income tax month” means a month beginning on the 6th day of any of the months of April to March in any year of assessment;

tax deduction card” means a tax deduction card in the form prescribed by the Revenue Commissioners or such other document corresponding to a tax deduction card as may be authorised by the Revenue Commissioners in any particular case.

Application.

125. —This Chapter applies to all emoluments except emoluments which are—

(a) emoluments arising from an office or employment of any class which is such that, in relation to the year 1958-59, tax on emoluments from an office or employment of that class was deductible or treated as deductible from the emoluments under any Rule, other than Rule 7 of the Rules applicable to Schedule E of the Income Tax Act, 1918.

(b) emoluments in respect of which the employer has been notified by the Revenue Commissioners that they are emoluments which arise from an office or employment and from which, in the opinion of the Revenue Commissioners having regard to the circumstances of the office or employment, the deduction of tax by reference to the provisions of this Chapter is impracticable, or

(c) emoluments in respect of which the employer has been notified by the Revenue Commissioners that they are emoluments which arise from an office or employment held by a person in the course of a trade or profession and which are or will be taken into account in computing the profits or gains of that trade or profession for the purposes of income tax.

Method of collection of tax.

126. —On the making of any payment of any emoluments to which this Chapter applies, income tax shall, subject to this Chapter and subject to and in accordance with the regulations thereunder, be deducted or repaid by the person making the payment notwithstanding that—

(a) when the payment is made, the tax has not been imposed for the year or no assessment has been made in respect of the emoluments, or

(b) the emoluments are, in whole or in part, emoluments for some year of assessment other than that during which the payment is made.

Regulations.

127. —(1) The Revenue Commissioners shall make regulations with respect to the assessment, charge, collection and recovery of income tax in respect of emoluments to which this Chapter applies or tax for any previous year of assessment remaining unpaid, and those regulations may, in particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, include provision—

(a) for requiring any employer making any payment of emoluments to which this Chapter applies, when he makes the payment, to make a deduction or repayment of tax calculated by reference to the rate of income tax for the year and any allowances, deductions and reliefs appropriate in the case of the employee as indicated by the particulars on the tax deduction card supplied in respect of the employee by the Revenue Commissioners, and for rendering persons who are required to make any such deduction or repayment, in the case of a deduction (whether or not made), accountable for the amount of the tax, and liable to pay that amount, to the Revenue Commissioners and, in the case of a repayment, entitled, if it has been made, to be paid it, or given credit for it, by the Revenue Commissioners;

(b) for the production to and inspection by persons authorised by the Revenue Commissioners of wages sheets and other documents and records for the purpose of satisfying themselves that tax in respect of emoluments to which this Chapter applies has been and is being duly deducted, repaid and accounted for;

(c) for the collection and recovery, whether by deduction from emoluments paid in any later year or otherwise, of tax in respect of emoluments to which this Chapter applies which has not been deducted or otherwise recovered during the year;

(d) for appeals with respect to matters arising under the regulations which would not otherwise be the subject of an appeal;

(e) for the deduction of tax at the standard rate in such cases or classes of cases as may be provided for by the regulations;

(f) for requiring every employer who pays emoluments to which this Chapter applies exceeding the limits specified in subsection (5) to notify the Revenue Commissioners within the period specified in the regulations that he is such an employer;

(g) for requiring every employer who pays emoluments to which this Chapter applies exceeding the limits specified in subsection (5) to keep and maintain a register of his employees in such manner as may be specified in the regulations, and, on being required so to do by the Revenue Commissioners by notice, to deliver the register to the Revenue Commissioners within the period specified in the notice;

(h) for treating persons who are not employers as employers in such cases or classes of cases as may be provided for by the regulations.

(2) Regulations under this section shall have effect notwithstanding anything in this Act, but shall not affect any right of appeal which a person would have apart from the regulations.

(3) (a) Tax deduction cards shall be prepared with a view to securing that, so far as may be practicable—

(i) the total tax payable for the year of assessment in respect of any emoluments is deducted from the emoluments paid during that year, and

(ii) the tax deductible or repayable on the occasion of any payment of emoluments is such that the total net tax deducted since the beginning of the year of assessment bears to the total tax payable for that year the same proportion that the part of the year which ends with the date of the payment bears to the whole year.

(b) In paragraph (a)—

any reference to the total tax payable for a year shall be construed as a reference to the total tax (excluding sur-tax) estimated to be payable for the year in respect of the emoluments, subject to a provisional deduction for allowances and reliefs and subject also, if necessary, to making an addition to the said estimated amount (including a nil amount) for amounts remaining unpaid on account of income tax for any previous year of assessment and making a deduction therefrom for amounts overpaid on account of any such income tax;

the reference to the total net tax deducted shall be construed as a reference to the total tax deducted during the year by virtue of regulations made under this section, less any tax repaid by virtue of any such regulations.

(c) In making any estimation pursuant to paragraph (b) it may be assumed, in relation to any payment of emoluments, that the emoluments paid in the part of the year of assessment which ends with the making of the payment will bear to the emoluments for the whole of that year the same proportion that that part of the year bears to the whole year.

(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, when stating on a tax deduction card an amount in respect of allowances, deductions and reliefs, the amount may be rounded up to a convenient greater amount and stated accordingly, and, as respects the amount of tax which is not deducted in the year of assessment as a result of such statement, the adjustment appropriate for its recovery shall be made in a subsequent year of assessment.

(5) (a) The limits referred to in paragraphs (f) and (g) of subsection (1) are emoluments at a rate equivalent to a rate of £6 a week, or in the case of an employee with other employment, £1 a week.

(b) In the case of employees paid monthly or at longer intervals, the references in paragraph (a) to a rate of £6 a week and a rate of £1 a week shall be treated as references to a rate of £26 a month and a rate of £4 10s. a month respectively.

(6) Where a deduction falls to be made in any year of assessment from emoluments to which this Chapter applies on account of income tax for any year of assessment before the year 1960-61, the employer shall not, pursuant to regulations under this section, make in the first-mentioned year any repayment of income tax.

(7) Every regulation made under this section shall be laid before Dáil Éireann as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by Dáil Éireann within the next twenty-one days on which Dáil Éireann has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

Penalties.

128. —(1) If any person does not comply with any provision of regulations under this Chapter requiring him to send any return, statement, notification or certificate or to produce any wages sheets or other records or documents, he shall be liable to a penalty of £20, together with, in the case of a continuing non-compliance, a penalty of the like amount for every day on which the non-compliance is continued.

(2) All penalties under this section may, without prejudice to any other method of recovery, be proceeded for and recovered summarily in the same manner as in summary proceedings for recovery of any fine or penalty under any Act relating to the excise.

(3) Where—

(a) a person does not comply with any provision of regulations under this Chapter requiring him to send any return, statement, notification or certificate,

(b) the provision requires compliance within a particular period, and

(c) such person continues, during a further period of two or more days, not to send the return, statement, notification or certificate, the non-compliance shall be regarded, for the purposes of subsection (1), as a non-compliance continuing on every day, other than the first, of the further period.

(4) In proceedings for recovery of a penalty under this section—

(a) a certificate signed by an officer of the Revenue Commissioners which certifies that he has inspected the relevant records of the Revenue Commissioners and that it appears from them that, during a stated period, a stated return, statement, notification or certificate was not received from the defendant shall be evidence until the contrary is proved that the defendant did not during that period send that return, statement, notification or certificate,

(b) a certificate signed by an officer of the Revenue Commissioners which certifies that he has inspected the relevant records of the Revenue Commissioners and that it appears from them that a stated return or other document was duly sent to the defendant on a stated day shall be evidence until the contrary is proved that that person received that return or other document in the ordinary course,

(c) a certificate certifying as provided for in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) and purporting to be signed by an officer of the Revenue Commissioners may be tendered in evidence without proof and shall be deemed until the contrary is proved to have been signed by an officer of the Revenue Commissioners.

Interest.

129. —Where any amount of tax which an employer is liable under this Chapter and any regulations thereunder to pay to the Revenue Commissioners is not so paid, simple interest on the amount shall be paid by the employer to the Revenue Commissioners and such interest shall be calculated from the expiration of the period specified in the regulations for the payment of the amount and at the rate of one per cent. for each month or part of a month during which the amount remains unpaid.

Payment by means of stamps.

130. —(1) The Revenue Commissioners may make regulations enabling an employer who is required to deduct tax from emoluments to which this Chapter applies to make, subject to being authorised for the time being by the Revenue Commissioners so to do, payment of the tax deductible by means of stamps to be affixed, by the employer making the deduction, to stamp books supplied by the Revenue Commissioners.

(2) Where payment by means of stamps is authorised as aforesaid, the employer shall not be required to make a repayment of tax previously deducted from emoluments to which this Chapter applies which were earned in his or a former employment.

(3) References in section 127 to tax deduction cards shall, with respect to cases in which the use of stamp books is authorised as aforesaid, be taken as references to those books.

(4) In any case in which a stamp book, required by regulations under this section to be sent to the Revenue Commissioners during a particular period, is not so sent, or if sent, is insufficiently stamped, the tax or balance of tax (as the case may be) for which the means of payment is stamps affixed to the book shall be regarded for the purposes of sections 129 and 131 as tax for which the employer is liable by reference to the relevant income tax month or months, interest under the said section 129 being calculated as from the expiration of the said period.

(5) The provisions (including penal provisions) of the Stamp Duties Management Act, 1891, and section 65 of the Post Office Act, 1908, shall apply to stamps referred to in this section.

(6) Regulations under this section shall not, except as regards the particular matters for which they make provision, affect the operation of any regulations under section 127.

(7) Every regulation made under this section shall be laid before Dáil Éireann as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by Dáil Éireann within the next twenty-one days on which Dáil Éireann has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

Recovery.

131. —(1) (a) The provisions of any enactment relating to the recovery of income tax charged under Schedule E shall apply to the recovery of any amount of tax which an employer is liable under this Chapter and any regulations thereunder to pay to the Revenue Commissioners by reference to any income tax month as if the said amount had been charged on the employer under Schedule E.

(b) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a), this subsection applies the provisions of sections 480, 485, 486, 488 and 491.

(c) Provisions as applied by this subsection shall so apply subject to any modifications specified by regulations under section 127.

(2) Proceedings may be brought for the recovery of the total amount which the employer is liable to pay as aforesaid by reference to any income tax month without distinguishing the amounts which he is liable to pay by reference to each employee and without specifying the employees in question, and for the purposes of the proceedings the said total amount shall be one single cause of action or one matter of complaint; but nothing in this subsection shall prevent the bringing of separate proceedings for the recovery of each of the several amounts which the employer is liable to pay as aforesaid by reference to any income tax month and to his several employees.

(3) In proceedings instituted by virtue of this section for the recovery of any amount of tax—

(a) a certificate signed by an officer of the Revenue Commissioners which certifies that a stated amount of tax is due and payable by the defendant shall be evidence until the contrary is proved that that amount is so due and payable, and

(b) a certificate certifying as aforesaid and purporting to be signed by an officer of the Revenue Commissioners may be tendered in evidence without proof and shall be deemed until the contrary is proved to have been signed by an officer of the Revenue Commissioners.

(4) Any reference in this section to an amount of tax includes a reference to interest payable in the case in question under section 129.

Priority in bankruptcy.

132. —(1) There shall be included among the debts which, under section 4 of the Preferential Payments in Bankruptcy (Ireland) Act, 1889, are to be paid in priority to all other debts in the distribution of the property of a bankrupt, arranging debtor, or person dying insolvent, so much as is unpaid of the employer's liability for the period of twelve months next before the date on which the order of adjudication of the bankrupt was made, the petition of arrangement of the debtor was filed, or, as the case may be, the person died insolvent.

(2) For the purposes of this section “employer's liability for the period of twelve months” means all sums which an employer was liable under this Chapter and any regulations thereunder to deduct from emoluments to which this Chapter applies paid by him during the period of twelve months mentioned in this section, reduced by any amounts which he was under this Chapter and any regulations thereunder liable to repay during the same period, and subject to the addition of interest payable under section 129.

Supplemental provisions.

133. —(1) No assessment under Schedule E for any year of assessment need be made in respect of emoluments to which this Chapter applies except where—

(a) the person assessable, by notice in writing given to the inspector within five years from the end of the year of assessment, requires an assessment to be made,

(b) the emoluments paid in the year of assessment are not the same in amount as the emoluments which fall to be treated as the emoluments for that year, or

(c) there is reason to suppose that the emoluments would, if assessed, fall to be taken into account in computing the total income for sur-tax purposes of a person who is liable to sur-tax or would be so liable if an assessment were made in respect of the emoluments.

(2) Where an employer pays to the Revenue Commissioners any amount of tax which, pursuant to this Chapter and any regulations thereunder, he has deducted from emoluments, he shall be acquitted and discharged of the sum represented by the payment as if he had actually paid that sum to the employee.