PART XIV

Administration

141. —(1) Every company which, on or after the 6th day of April, 1976, commences to carry on a trade, profession or business shall, within thirty days from the date of such commencement, deliver to the Revenue Commissioners a statement in writing containing the following particulars—

(a) the name of the company;

(b) the address of its registered office in the State or, in the case of a company which is not resident in the State, the address of its principal place of business in the State;

(c) the name of the secretary or, in the case of a company which is not resident in the State, the name and address of the agent, manager, factor or other representative of the company;

(d) the date of commencement of the trade, profession or business or, in the case of a company which is not resident in the State, the date of commencement of its trade or profession in the State;

(e) the nature of the trade, profession or business; and

(f) the date to which the first accounts relating to such trade, profession or business will be made up:

Provided that this subsection shall not apply to a company which is neither resident nor incorporated in the State unless it commences to carry on a trade or profession in the State.

(2) Where a company fails to deliver a statement which it is required to deliver under this section—

(a) the company shall be liable to a penalty of £500 and, if the failure continues after judgment has been given by the court before which proceedings for the penalty have been commenced, to a further penalty of £50 for each day on which the failure so continues, and

(b) the secretary of the company shall be liable to a separate penalty of £100.

142. —(1) Every company which is chargeable to corporation tax for any accounting period and which has not made a return of its profits for that accounting period shall, not later than one year after the end of that accounting period, give notice to the inspector that it is so chargeable:

Provided that this subsection shall not impose a duty to give any notice before the 6th day of April, 1976.

(2) Where a company fails to give a notice which it is required to give under this section—

(a) the company shall be liable to a penalty of £500 and, if the failure continues after judgment has been given by the court before which proceedings for the penalty have been commenced, to a further penalty of £50 for each day on which the failure so continues, and

(b) the secretary of the company shall be liable to a separate penalty of £100.

143. —(1) A company may be required by a notice served on it by an inspector or other officer of the Revenue Commissioners to deliver to the officer within the time limited by the notice a return of the profits of the company computed in accordance with this Act—

(a) specifying the income taken into account in computing those profits, with the amount from each source,

(b) giving particulars of all disposals giving rise to chargeable gains or allowable losses under the provisions of the Capital Gains Tax Act, 1975 , and this Act and particulars of those chargeable gains or allowable losses, and

(c) giving particulars of all charges on income to be deducted against those profits for the purpose of the assessment to corporation tax.

(2) A notice under this section may require a return of profits arising in any period during which the company was within the charge to corporation tax.

(3) Every return under this section shall include a declaration to the effect that the return is correct and complete.

(4) A return under this section which includes profits which are payments on which the company has borne income tax by deduction shall specify the amount of income tax so borne.

(5) A notice under this section may require the inclusion in the return of particulars of management expenses, capital allowances and balancing charges which have been taken into account in arriving at the profits included in the return.

(6) Paragraph 3 (3) (4) of Schedule 4 to the Capital Gains Tax Act, 1975 (power to demand information about the acquisition of assets), shall apply in relation to a notice under this section as they apply in relation to a notice under any of the provisions of the Income Tax Acts, as applied in relation to capital gains tax by the said paragraph 3.

(7) Section 174 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 (production of accounts and books), shall apply where a company is required to make, or makes, a return under this section relating to profits which consist of or comprise those arising from a trade as it applies where a person is required to make, or makes, a return for the purposes of income tax of the profits or gains arising to him from any trade.

(8) (a) If any company has been required by notice served under the foregoing provisions of this section to deliver a return and the company fails to comply with the notice—

(i) the company shall be liable to a penalty of £500 except in the case mentioned in paragraph (b) and, if the failure continues after judgment has been given by the court before which proceedings for the penalty have been commenced, to a further penalty of £50 for each day on which the failure so continues, and

(ii) the secretary of the company shall be liable to a separate penalty of £100 except in the case mentioned in paragraph (b).

(b) Where any such failure as is mentioned in paragraph (a) continues after the expiration of one year beginning with the date on which the notice was served the first of the penalties mentioned in the said paragraph for which the company is liable shall be £1,000, and the secretary of the company shall be liable to a separate penalty of £200.

(9) Where a company fraudulently or negligently—

(a) delivers an incorrect return under the provisions of this section, or

(b) makes any incorrect return, statement or declaration in connection with any claim for any allowance, deduction or relief in respect of corporation tax, or

(c) submits to an inspector, the Revenue Commissioners or the Appeal Commissioners any incorrect accounts in connection with the ascertainment of the company's liability to corporation tax,

the company shall be liable to a penalty of—

(i) £500, or, in the case of fraud, £1,000, and

(ii) the amount, or, in the case of fraud, twice the amount, of the difference specified in subsection (10), and

the secretary of the company shall be liable to a separate penalty of £100, or, in the case of fraud, £200.

(10) The difference referred to in subsection (9) is the difference between—

(a) the amount of corporation tax payable by the said company for the accounting period or accounting periods comprising the period to which the return, statement, declaration or accounts relate, and

(b) the amount which would have been the amount so payable if the return, statement, declaration or accounts had been correct.

(11) The provisions of section 501 (3) of the Income Tax Act, 1967 (failure to correct an error not made fraudulently or negligently), shall apply for the purposes of this section as they apply for the purposes of the said section 501.

(12) (a) Section 191 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 (error or mistake), shall apply in relation to corporation tax as it applies in relation to income tax under Schedule D.

(b) Any return under this Act shall be in such form as the Revenue Commissioners prescribe.

(c) In this section “return” includes any statement, declaration or list.

144. —(1) Assessments to corporation tax shall be made by an inspector.

(2) Where a company on whose profits the tax is to be assessed is resident in the State the tax shall be assessed on the company, and where a company on whose profits the tax is to be assessed is not resident in the State the tax shall be assessed on the company in the name of any agent, manager, factor or other representative of the company.

(3) The inspector shall give notice to the company assessed, or, in the case of a company which is not resident in the State, to the agent, manager, factor or other representative of the company assessed, of every assessment made by him.

(4) If—

(a) a company makes default in the delivery of a statement in respect of corporation tax, or

(b) the inspector is not satisfied with a statement which has been delivered, or has received any information as to its insufficiency,

the inspector shall make an assessment on the company concerned in such sum as, according to the best of the inspector's judgment, ought to be charged on that company.

(5) (a) If an inspector discovers—

(i) that any profits which ought to have been assessed to corporation tax have not been assessed, or

(ii) that an assessment to corporation tax is or has become insufficient, or

(iii) that any relief which has been given is or has become excessive,

the inspector shall make an assessment in the amount, or the further amount, which ought in his opinion to be charged.

(b) Subject to any provision allowing a longer period in any class of case, no assessment to corporation tax shall be made more than ten years after the end of the accounting period to which it relates:

Provided that in a case in which any form of fraud or neglect has been committed by or on behalf of any company in connection with or in relation to corporation tax, an assessment may be made on that company at any time for any accounting period for which, by reason of the fraud or neglect, corporation tax would otherwise be lost to the Exchequer.

(c) An objection to the making of any assessment on the ground that the time limited for the making thereof has expired shall only be made on appeal from the assessment.

(d) In this subsection “neglect” means negligence or a failure to give any notice, to make any return, statement or declaration, or to produce or furnish any list, document or other information required by or under the enactments relating to corporation tax:

Provided that a company shall be deemed not to have failed to do anything required to be done within a limited time if it did it within such further time, if any, as the Revenue Commissioners or officer concerned may have allowed; and where a company had a reasonable excuse for not doing anything required to be done, it shall be deemed not to have failed to do it if it did it without unreasonable delay after the excuse had ceased.

145. —(1) The Collector-General shall collect and levy the tax from time to time charged on all assessments to corporation tax of which particulars have been transmitted to him under section 187 (1) of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , as applied for the purposes of corporation tax by section 147.

(2) All such powers as are exercisable with respect to the collecting and levying of sums of income tax under Schedule D of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , of which particulars are transmitted under section 187 (1) of that Act shall extend with respect to sums of corporation tax of which particulars are transmitted under that section as applied by section 147.

(3) Section 550 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 (interest on overdue tax), shall apply for the purposes of corporation tax as it applies for the purposes of income tax subject to the inclusion in subsection (1) thereof of a reference to section 6 (4) (general scheme of corporation tax) of this Act for the reference to section 477 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 (time for payment of tax), and section 28 of the Finance Act, 1975 (interest on unpaid taxes), shall apply to interest which, under the said section 550 as applied by this section, is chargeable in respect of corporation tax.

(4) (a) In this subsection “neglect” has the same meaning as in section 144 (5) (d).

(b) Where, for any accounting period, an assessment is made for the purpose of recovering an undercharge to corporation tax which is attributable to the fraud or neglect of any person, the amount of tax undercharged shall carry interest at the rate of 1·5 per cent. for each month or part of a month from the date or dates on which the tax undercharged for that accounting period would have been payable, if it had been included in an assessment made on the expiration of six months from the end of that accounting period, to the date of payment of the tax undercharged.

(c) Subject to paragraph (e), section 550 (1) (2) of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , shall not apply to tax carrying interest under this subsection.

(d) Subsections (3), (4) and (5) of section 550 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , shall apply to interest chargeable under this subsection as they apply to interest chargeable under the said section 550.

(e) Where an assessment of the kind referred to in paragraph (b) is made—

(i) the inspector concerned shall give notice to the person assessed that the tax charged by the assessment will carry interest under this subsection,

(ii) the person assessed may appeal against the assessment on the ground that interest should not be charged under this subsection, and the provisions of this Act relating to appeals against assessments shall apply and have effect in relation to the appeal as they apply in relation to those appeals with any necessary modifications, and

(iii) if, on the appeal, it is determined that the tax charged by the assessment should not carry interest under this subsection, section 550 (1) (2) of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , shall apply to that tax as it applies to tax charged by an assessment to income tax.

(5) The priority attaching to assessed taxes under sections 98 and 285 of the Companies Act, 1963 , shall apply to corporation tax.

146. —(1) The provisions of Part XXVI of the Income Tax Act, 1967 (Appeals), shall apply for the purposes of corporation tax as they apply for the purposes of income tax and accordingly, in those provisions, any reference to income tax shall be taken as including a reference to corporation tax and any reference to the Income Tax Act, 1967 , shall be taken as including a reference to the Corporation Tax Acts.

(2) Where an Appeal Commissioner is interested in his own right or in the right of any other person in any matter under appeal, he shall not take part in, or be present at, the hearing or determination of the appeal.

147. —(1) The provisions of the Income Tax Acts specified in subsection (2) shall apply in relation to corporation tax as they apply in relation to income tax and accordingly in those provisions—

(a) any reference to income tax shall be taken as including a reference to corporation tax,

(b) any reference to the Income Tax Acts shall be taken as including a reference to the Corporation Tax Acts, and

(c) any reference to a year of assessment shall be taken as including a reference to an accounting period.

(2) The provisions of the Income Tax Acts referred to in subsection (1) are sections 164 , 165 , 166 (2), 187 (1) (3), 188 (1), 190 , 212 , 339 , 491 , 498 , 505 , 506 , 507 , 514 , 515 , 516 , 518 , 519 , 521 , 536 , 537 , 538 , 539 , 541 , 542 , 543 , 547 , 549 and 551 (1) of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , section 6 of the Finance Act, 1968 , section 73 of the Finance Act, 1974 , and section 21 of the Finance Act, 1975 .

(3) The provisions of the Income Tax Acts specified in subsection (4) shall apply in relation to the recovery of a penalty under the provisions of the Corporation Tax Acts as they apply in relation to the recovery of a penalty under the provisions of Part XXXV of the Income Tax Act, 1967 .

(4) The provisions of the Income Tax Acts referred to in subsection (3) are sections 172 (5), 504 , 508 , 510 , 511 , 512 and 513 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 .

(5) All Commissioners and other persons employed for any purpose in connection with the assessment or collection of corporation tax shall be subject to the same obligations as to secrecy with respect to corporation tax as those persons are subject to with respect to income tax, and any declaration made by any such person as to secrecy with respect to income tax shall be deemed to extend also to secrecy with respect to corporation tax.

148. —Notwithstanding section 10 (4) of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851, summary proceedings under section 516 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 (false statements), as applied in relation to corporation tax or under section 63 (production of books and documents: export sales relief) may be instituted within three years from the date of the offence or incurring of the penalty (as the case may be).

149. —(1) Where any person has been required by notice given under or for the purposes of section 27 (change in ownership of company: disallowance of trading losses), section 73 (Shannon relief: delivery of statements), section 123 (information as to arrangements for transferring relief) or Part X (Close Companies), to furnish any information or particulars and he fails to comply with the notice he shall be liable, subject to subsection (3), to a penalty of £100 and, if the failure continues after judgment has been given by the court before which proceedings for the penalty have been commenced, to a further penalty of £10 for each day on which the failure so continues.

(2) Where a person fraudulently or negligently furnishes any incorrect information or particulars of a kind mentioned in Part X, section 27, 73, 123 or 151, he shall be liable, subject to subsection (4), to a penalty of £100, or, in the case of fraud, £250.

(3) Where the person mentioned in subsection (1) is a company, it shall be liable to—

(a) a penalty of £500, and, if the failure continues after judgment has been given by the court before which proceedings for the penalty have been commenced, to a further penalty of £50 for each day on which the failure so continues, and

(b) the secretary of the company shall be liable to a separate penalty of £100.

(4) Where the person mentioned in subsection (2) is a company, it shall be liable to—

(a) a penalty of £500, or, in the case of fraud, £1,000, and

(b) the secretary of the company shall be liable to a separate penalty of £100, or, in the case of fraud, £200.

(5) The provisions of section 501 (3) of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , shall apply for the purposes of this section as they apply for the purposes of the said section 501.

150. —(1) Where—

(a) for any accounting period the profits of a company consist of or include income from a trade of dealing in or developing land in the course of which the company disposes of the full interest acquired by it in any land, and

(b) in relation to that disposal the conditions specified in paragraphs (b) to (e) of section 23 (1) of the Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1968 (postponement of payment of tax to be permitted in certain cases), are satisfied, and

(c) at the time when any amount of corporation tax charged by an assessment for that accounting period would, but for this section, become due and payable (otherwise than by virtue of section 419 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 (agreement as to amount of tax not in dispute on an appeal against an assessment), as applied for the purposes of corporation tax)—

(i) the company retains the leasehold interest acquired by it from the person to whom the disposition is made, and

(ii) has not disposed, as regards the whole or any part of the land, of an interest derived from that leasehold interest,

a part of the said amount of corporation tax equal to nine-tenths of so much thereof as would not have been chargeable if no sum had fallen to be taken into account as mentioned in section 23 (1) (d) of the Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1968 , shall be payable in nine equal instalments at yearly intervals the first of which is payable on the expiration of twelve months from the date on which, but for this section, the said amount of corporation tax would have been payable.

(2) Where, in a case in which the postponement of payment of any amount of corporation tax has been authorised by subsection (1)—

(a) the company ceases to retain the leasehold interest acquired by it,

(b) the company disposes, as regards the whole or any part of the land, of an interest derived from the said leasehold interest, or

(c) the company commences to be wound up,

the said amount of corporation tax, or, as the case may be, so much of it as has not already become due and payable, shall become due and payable forthwith.

151. —(1) In this section “relevant payment” means—

(a) any payment made on or after the 6th day of April, 1976, from which income tax is deductible and to which the provisions of subsections (2) to (5) of section 434 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 (payments not payable out of taxed profits), apply, and

(b) any amount which under section 98 (loans to participators, etc.) is deemed to be an annual payment.

(2) This section shall have effect for the purpose of regulating the time and manner in which companies resident in the State—

(a) are to account for and pay income tax in respect of relevant payments, and

(b) are to be repaid income tax in respect of payments received by them on or after the 6th day of April, 1976.

(3) A company shall for each of its accounting periods make, in accordance with this section, a return to the Collector-General of the relevant payments made by it in that period and of the income tax for which the company is accountable in respect of those payments.

(4) A return for any period for which a return is required to be made under this section shall be made within six months from the end of that period.

(5) Income tax in respect of any payment required to be included in a return under this section shall be due at the time by which the return is to be made, and income tax so due shall be payable by the company without the making of any assessment; but income tax which has become due as aforesaid may be assessed on the company (whether or not it has been paid when the assessment is made) if that tax, or any part of it, is not paid on or before the due date.

(6) If it appears to the inspector that there is a relevant payment which ought to have been and has not been included in a return, or if the inspector is dissatisfied with any return, he may make an assessment on the company to the best of his judgment; and any income tax due under an assessment made by virtue of this subsection shall be treated for the purposes of interest on unpaid tax as having been payable at the time when it would have been payable if a correct return had been made.

(7) Where in any accounting period a company receives any payment on which it bears income tax by deduction the company may claim to have the income tax thereon set against any income tax which it is liable to pay under this section in respect of payments made by it in that period, and any such claim shall be included in the return made under subsection (4) for the accounting period in question and (where necessary) income tax paid by the company under this section for that accounting period and before the claim is allowed shall be repaid accordingly.

(8) (a) Where a claim has been made under subsection (7) no proceedings for collecting tax which would fall to be discharged if the claim were allowed shall be instituted pending the final determination of the claim, but this subsection shall not affect the date when the tax is due and when the claim is finally determined any tax underpaid in consequence of this subsection shall be paid.

(b) Where proceedings are instituted for collecting tax assessed, or interest on tax assessed, under any provision of subsection (5) or (6), effect shall not be given to any claim made after the institution of the proceedings so as to affect or delay the collection or recovery of the tax charged by the assessment or of interest thereon.

(c) References in this subsection to proceedings for the collection of tax include references to proceedings by way of distraint for tax.

(9) Income tax set against other tax under subsection (7) shall be treated as paid or repaid, as the case may be, and the same tax shall not be taken into account both under this subsection and under section 3 (2) (income tax on payments made or received by a company resident in the State).

(10) Where a company makes a relevant payment on a date which does not fall within an accounting period the company shall make a return of that payment within six months from that date, and the income tax for which the company is accountable in respect of that payment shall be due at the time by which the return is to be made.

(11) (a) All the provisions of the Income Tax Acts as to the time within which an assessment may be made, so far as they refer or relate to the year of assessment for which an assessment is made, or the year to which an assessment relates, shall apply in relation to any assessment under this section notwithstanding that, under this section, the assessment may be said to relate to a period which is not a year of assessment, and the provisions of section 186 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 (additional assessments), as to the circumstances in which an assessment may be made at any time shall apply accordingly on the footing that any such assessment relates to the year of assessment in which the period ends.

(b) Income tax assessed on a company under this section shall, notwithstanding the provisions of section 477 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , be due within one month after the issue of the notice of assessment (unless due earlier under subsection (5) or (10)) subject to any appeal against the assessment, but no such appeal shall affect the date when tax is due under subsection (5) or (10).

(c) On the determination of an appeal against an assessment under this section any tax overpaid shall be repaid.

(d) Any tax assessable under any one or more of the provisions of this section may be included in one assessment if the tax so included is all due on the same date.

(12) Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this section shall be taken to prejudice any powers conferred by the Income Tax Acts for the recovery of income tax by means of an assessment or otherwise; and any assessment in respect of tax payable under subsection (10) shall be treated for the purposes of the provisions mentioned in subsection (11) (a) as relating to the year of assessment in which the payment is made.

(13) (a) The Revenue Commissioners may, by regulations made for the purposes mentioned in subsection (2), modify, supplement or replace any of the provisions of this section; and references in this Act and in any other enactment to this section shall be construed as including references to any such regulations; and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the regulations may in relation to income tax charged by this section modify any provision of the Income Tax Acts relating to returns, assessments, claims or appeals or may apply any such provision with or without modification.

(b) Regulations under this subsection may—

(i) make different provision for different descriptions of companies, and for different circumstances, and may authorise the Revenue Commissioners, where in their opinion there are special circumstances justifying it, to make special arrangements as respects income tax for which a company is liable to account or the repayment of income tax borne by a company;

(ii) include such transitional and other supplemental provisions as appear to the Revenue Commissioners to be expedient or necessary.

(c) Every regulation made under this subsection 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.

(14) Section 434 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , is hereby amended by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (5)—

“(5A) Subsections (2), (3) and (5) have effect subject to the provisions of section 151 of the Corporation Tax Act, 1976, with respect to the time and manner in which companies resident in the State are to account for and pay income tax in respect of

(i) payments from which tax is deductible, and

(ii) any amount which is deemed to be an annual payment.”.

152. —(1) All the provisions of the Income Tax Acts relating to—

(a) persons who are to be chargeable with income tax;

(b) income tax assessments;

(c) appeals against such assessments (including the rehearing of appeals and the statement of a case for the opinion of the High Court); and

(d) the collection and recovery of income tax,

shall, so far as they are applicable, apply to the charge, assessment, collection and recovery of income tax under section 151.

(2) (a) Any tax payable in accordance with section 151 without the making of an assessment shall carry interest at the rate of 1.5 per cent. for each month or part of a month from the date when the tax becomes due and payable until payment.

(b) The provisions of section 550 (3) (4) (5) of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , shall apply in relation to interest payable under this subsection as they apply in relation to interest payable under the said section 550.

(3) In its application to any tax charged by any assessment to income tax in accordance with section 151 , section 550 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , shall have effect with the omission of the proviso to subsection (1) and subsections (2) and (2A).

153. —The inspector may, for any purpose in connection with the assessment and collection of corporation tax, make use of, or produce in evidence, any returns, correspondence, schedules, accounts, statements or other documents or information to which he or the Revenue Commissioners has had or have had or may have lawful access for the purposes of the Acts relating to any tax or duty under the care and management of the Revenue Commissioners.

154. —In this Part “secretary” includes such persons as are mentioned in section 207 (2) of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , and, in the case of a company which is not resident in the State, the agent, manager, factor or other representative of the company.