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10 1989

FINANCE ACT, 1989

PART III

Value-Added Tax

Interpretation ( Part III ).

53. —In this Part—

the Principal Act” means the Value-Added Tax Act, 1972 ;

the Act of 1978” means the Value-Added Tax (Amendment) Act, 1978 ;

the Act of 1985” means the Finance Act, 1985 ;

the Act of 1988” means the Finance Act, 1988 .

Amendment of section 5 (supply of services) of Principal Act.

54. —Section 5 (inserted by the Act of 1978) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion after subsection (4A) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1982 ) of the following subsection:

“(4B) Where a person is indemnified under a policy of insurance in respect of any amount payable in respect of services of a barrister or solicitor, those services shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to be supplied to, and received by, the said person.”.

Amendment of section 8 (accountable persons) of Principal Act.

55. —Section 8 of the Principal Act is hereby amended—

(a) in subsection (3) (inserted by the Act of 1978) by the substitution—

(i) in paragraph (b) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1982 ) of “£15,000” for “£12,000” (inserted by the Finance Act, 1983 ),

(ii) in paragraph (c) (inserted by the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1981) of “£32,000” for “£25,000” (inserted by the Finance Act, 1983 ), and

(iii) in paragraph (e) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1984 ) of “£15,000” for “£12,000”,

(b) in subsection (3A) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1982 ), by the substitution of “£15,000” for “£12,000” (inserted by the Finance Act, 1983 ), and

(c) in subsection (9) (inserted by the Act of 1978), in the definition of “farmer” (inserted by the Finance Act, 1982 ), by the substitution of “£15,000” for “£12,000” (inserted by the Finance Act, 1983 ) in each place where it occurs.

Amendment of section 11 (rates of tax) of Principal Act.

56. —Section 11 of the Principal Act is hereby amended in subsection (1) (inserted by the Act of 1985)—

(a) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (bb) (inserted by the Act of 1988):

“(bb) 5 per cent. of the amount on which tax is chargeable in relation to the supply of electricity:

Provided that this paragraph shall not apply to the distribution of any electricity where such distribution is wholly or mainly in connection with the distribution of communications signals,”,

and

(b) by the substitution in paragraph (d) of “2 per cent.” for “1.4 per cent.” (inserted by the Act of 1988).

Amendment of section 12A (special provisions for tax invoiced by flat-rate farmers) of Principal Act.

57. —Section 12A (inserted by the Act of 1978) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution in subsection (1) of “2 per cent.” for “1.4 per cent.” (inserted by the Act of 1988).

Amendment of section 19 (tax due and payable) of Principal Act.

58. —Section 19 of the Principal Act is hereby amended in subsection (3) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1983 ) by the insertion after paragraph (a) of the following paragraph:

“(aa) (i) In this paragraph:

accounting period’ means a period, as determined by the Collector-General from time to time in any particular case, consisting of a number of consecutive taxable periods not exceeding six;

authorised person’ means a taxable person who has been authorised in writing by the Collector-General for the purposes of this paragraph and ‘authorise’ and ‘authorisation’ shall be construed accordingly.

(ii) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a)—

(I) the Collector-General may, from time to time, authorise in writing a taxable person for the purposes of this paragraph, unless the taxable person objects in writing to the authorisation,

and

(II) an authorised person may, within nine days immediately after the tenth day of the month immediately following an accounting period furnish to the Collector-General a true and correct return prepared in accordance with regulations of the amount of tax which became due by him during the taxable periods which comprise the accounting period, not being tax already paid by him in relation to goods imported by him, and, the amount, if any, which may be deducted in accordance with section 12 in computing the amount of tax payable by him in respect of such taxable periods and such other particulars as may be specified in regulations, and at the same time remit to the Collector-General any amount of tax payable by him in respect of such taxable periods, and, where the authorised person concerned so furnishes and remits, he shall be deemed to have complied with the provisions of paragraph (a) in relation to the said taxable periods.

(iii) For the purposes of issuing an authorisation to a taxable person, the Collector-General shall, where he considers it appropriate, have regard to the following matters—

(I) he has reasonable grounds to believe that—

(A) the authorisation will not result in a loss of tax, and

(B) the taxable person will meet all his obligations under the authorisation,

and

(II) the taxable person has—

(A) been a registered person during all of the period consisting of the six taxable periods immediately preceding the period in which an authorisation would, if it were issued, have effect, and

(B) complied with the provisions of paragraph (a).

(iv) An authorisation may—

(I) be issued either without conditions or subject to such conditions as the Collector-General, having regard in particular to the considerations mentioned in subparagraph (iii), considers proper and specifies in writing to the taxable person concerned when issuing the authorisation,

(II) without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, require an authorised person to remit to the Collector-General, within nine days immediately after the tenth day of the month immediately following each taxable period (other than the final taxable period) which is comprised in an accounting period, such an amount as may be specified by the Collector-General.

(v) The Collector-General may, by notice in writing, terminate an authorisation and, where a taxable person requests him to do so, he shall terminate the authorisation.

(vi) For the purposes of terminating an authorisation the Collector-General shall, where he considers it appropriate, have regard to the following matters:

(I) he has reasonable grounds to believe that the authorisation has resulted or could result in a loss of tax, or

(II) the taxable person—

(A) has furnished, or there is furnished on his behalf, any incorrect information for the purposes of the issue to him of an authorisation, or

(B) has not complied with the provisions of paragraph (a) or of this paragraph, including the conditions, if any, specified by the Collector-General under subparagraph (iv) in relation to the issue to him of an authorisation.

(vii) In relation to any taxable period in respect of which he has not complied with the provisions of paragraph (a), a person whose authorisation is terminated shall be deemed to have complied with paragraph (a) if, within twenty-one days of issue to him of a notice of termination, he furnishes to the Collector-General the return specified in paragraph (a) and at the same time remits to the said Collector-General the amount of tax payable by him in accordance with that paragraph.

(viii) (I) An authorisation shall be deemed to have been terminated by the Collector-General on the date that an authorised person—

(A) ceases to trade (except for the purposes of disposing of the stocks and assets of his business), whether for reasons of insolvency or any other reason,

(B) being a body corporate, goes into liquidation, whether voluntarily or not, or

(C) ceases to be a taxable person or a registered person, dies or becomes bankrupt.

(II) A taxable person to whom this subparagraph relates shall, in relation to any taxable period (or part of a taxable period) comprised in the accounting period which was in operation in his case on the date to which clause (I) of this subparagraph relates, be deemed to have complied with paragraph (a) if he furnishes to the Collector-General the return specified in subparagraph (ii) (II) and at the same time remits to the said Collector-General the amount of tax payable by him for the purposes of that subparagraph as if he were an authorised person whose accounting period ended on the last day of the taxable period during which the termination occurred:

Provided that the personal representative of a person who was an authorised person shall be deemed to be the taxable person concerned.”.

Amendment of section 20 (refund of tax) of Principal Act.

59. —Section 20 (3) (as amended by the Act of 1978) of the Principal Act is hereby amended in paragraph (a) by the substitution of “shall, in relation to the supply to such person of goods or services of a kind so specified”, for “in relation to the supply to such person of goods or services of a kind so specified shall”, and the said paragraph (a), as so amended, is set out in the Table to this section.

TABLE

(3) (a) The Minister may by order provide that a person who fulfils to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners such conditions as may be specified in the order shall, in relation to the supply to such person of goods or services of a kind so specified, be entitled to be repaid so much, as is specified in the order, of any tax borne or paid by him in relation to such supply as does not qualify for deduction under section 12 in computing his liability to tax.

Amendment of section 32 (regulations) of Principal Act.

60. —Section 32 of the Principal Act is hereby amended in subsection (2A) (inserted by the Act of 1978) by the substitution of “, subsection (6) or (7) of section 15 or paragraph (ia) of the Sixth Schedule” for “or subsection (6) or (7) of section 15”.

Amendment of First Schedule to Principal Act.

61. —The First Schedule (inserted by the Act of 1978) to the Principal Act is hereby amended—

(a) by the insertion of the following subparagraph after subparagraph (g) of paragraph (i) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1987 ):

“(gg) the management of an undertaking which is a collective investment undertaking within the meaning of section 18 of the Finance Act, 1989, other than services specified in subparagraph (g);”,

(b) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (iii):

“(iii) professional services of a medical nature, other than services specified in paragraph (iiib), but excluding such services supplied in the course of carrying on a business which consists in whole or in part of selling goods;”,

(c) by the insertion after paragraph (iiia) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1986 ) of the following paragraph:

“(iiib) professional services of a dental or optical nature;”,

and

(d) by the substitution in paragraph (ix) of “subparagraph (g) or (gg) of paragraph (i)” for “paragraph (i) (g)”.

Amendment of Second Schedule to Principal Act.

62. —The Second Schedule (inserted by the Finance Act, 1976 ) to the Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion in subparagraph (b) of paragraph (xixa) (inserted by the Value-Added Tax (Reduction of Rate) (No. 5) Order, 1981 (S.I. No. 53 of 1981)), after “teeth”, of “, corrective spectacles and contact lenses”.

Amendment of Sixth Schedule to Principal Act.

63. —The Sixth Schedule (inserted by the Act of 1985) to the Principal Act is hereby amended—

(a) by the insertion of the following paragraphs after paragraph (i):

“(ia) every work of art being—

(a) a painting, drawing or pastel, or any combination thereof, executed entirely by hand, excluding hand-decorated manufactured articles and plans and drawings for architectural, engineering, industrial, commercial, topographical or similar purposes,

(b) an original lithograph, engraving, or print, or any combination thereof, produced directly from lithographic stones, plates or other engraved surfaces, which are executed entirely by hand,

(c) an original sculpture or statuary, excluding mass-produced reproductions and works of craftsmanship of a commercial character, or

(d) subject to and in accordance with regulations, an article of furniture, silver, glass or porcelain, whether hand-decorated or not, specified in the said regulations, where it is shown to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners to be more than 100 years old, other than goods specified in subparagraph (a), (b) or (c);

(ib) literary manuscripts certified by the Director of the National Library as being of major national importance and of either cultural or artistic importance;”,

and

(b) by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (ix):

“(ixa) corrective spectacles and contact lenses, including parts thereof;”.