Relevant Matter
Public policy or programme
Public Policy Area
Finance
Period
1 Jan, 2016 to 30 Apr, 2016
Specific Details
Pre-budget submission on issues of Probate and Taxation
Intended results
A link to the submission is provided below. Results sought, included: The Society urges the Department to permit Revenue to issue tax reference numbers to nonresident individuals for stamp duty purposes only. This is already done for foreign companies and the procedure could be extended to non-resident individuals.
Conveyances on sales and leases where the consideration is €1000 or less should be free of stamp duty and should not be required to be submitted to the stamping process. This would bring this head of stamp duty into line with the stocks and marketable securities head.
It is proposed that Section 80 SDCA (Reconstructions or Amalgamation of Companies) be amended such that an "acquiring company" may be a company which is incorporated in a jurisdiction with which Ireland has a double taxation agreement in force. See submission document for further details
Section 908F of the TCA (as inserted by s.127 Finance Act 2012) should be amended to provide clarification that the application to the court envisaged by that section is to be made to the High Court.
Section 1052 TCA should be amended to provide that the discretion of the court to impose a zero sum fine be extended to individual taxpayers.
That it be clarified in legislation that there is no requirement to restrict the exemption provided for under Section 84 CATCA2003 but that the beneficiary would be allowed (or those acting on behalf of the beneficiary in cases where the disability is of a cognitive nature) to take the benefit free from CAT, subject to Revenue’s power to audit where deemed appropriate.
That any provision made by a person by will or by deed, for the benefit of a qualified cohabitant, should have the benefit of a Group A Threshold, save where an order of the Court under s. 175 of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act, 2010 applies, in which case such provision ordered by the Court should continue to be free from tax.
It is proposed that Section 82(2) CATCA 2003 be extended to apply in the case of benefits taken from deceased parents for support, maintenance or education without the restrictions contained in Section 82(4).
That the Revenue Commissioners amend S. 15 (1A) CATCA 2003 (as inserted by S. 111 of the Finance Act, 2012) by inserting the following sentence: “save where an intervening interest or interests in possession arise. In such case, the discretionary trust will come into effect on the termination of all or any such interest in possession.”
Section 81 CATCA 2003 should be amended in the terms set out at Section 3.5 of the attached submission.
A proposal to stipulate in the CAT code (as is the case in Section 551 TCA to eliminate the same sum being subject to CGT and income tax) that income tax is the primary tax and that if a sum of money is liable to income tax then it is to be excluded from the charge to CAT.
That the date from which aggregation applies be brought forward to a more recent date. See Section 3.7
Part 25A of the TCA should be amended to include the receipt of income from debts secured on property and dividends from companies solely owning property within the ambit of a "property rental business".
The position regarding recognised clearing systems should be amended to read “clearing system” by the deletion of “recognised” and the corresponding definition in Section 246A (2) (a) TCA. See Section 4.2.
It is proposed that specific legislative provision is made for an exemption from capital gains tax for overseas charities. It is suggested that the definition of charities under Section 609 TCA be extended to include foreign charities qualifying under Section 208A.
Ammendments to Section 288(3C) TCA and Section 35(2) Finance Act 2013 in respect of R&D Expenditure and Clawback. See Section 4.3.
It is suggested that VATCA should be amended to allow a person who bears a VAT charge to appeal against that charge. It is understood that in the UK a more flexible system of appeal applies for persons who are not regarded as the accountable persons in the sale/supply.
The provisions for claiming CGT Retirement Relief should be amended to allow for a spouse/civil partner to step into the shoes of the farming spouse in terms of satisfying the 10 year ownership and usage requirement.
That section 757 TCA should be repealed and patent rights should be treated as any other chargeable asset (as is clearly envisaged by section 533(h) TCA). If this is not possible, at the very least, changes should be made to facilitate reorganisations of businesses in a tax efficient manner where existing reliefs and exemptions are available for the disposal of capital assets.
Changes to Section 29 TCA and its application to companies migrating to Ireland. See Section 4.9
To access the full range of recommendations, context and rationale, please access: https://www.lawsociety.ie/News/News/Stories/Taxation-Committee-pre-budget-submission/#.VzyCY_krIdU
Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity
Ken Murphy. Director General
Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?)
No
Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign?
No
Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client?
No
Lobbying activity
The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.
Submission (1)
To access the full range of recommendations, context and rationale, please access: https://www.lawsociety.ie/News/News/Stories/Taxation-Committee-pre-budget-submission/#.VzyCY_krIdU
Designated public officials lobbied
The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them.
As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.
Michael Noonan
Minister (Department of Finance)
Brendan Howlin
Minister (Department of Public Expenditure and Reform)
Joan Burton
Tánaiste and Minister (Department of Social Protection)