PART I.

INCOME TAX.

1. —(1) Income tax shall be charged for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1925, at the rate of four shillings in the pound.

(2) Super-tax shall be charged for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1925, at the same rates as those at which it was charged for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1924.

(3) The several statutory and other provisions which were in force during the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1924, in relation to income tax and super-tax shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, have effect in relation to the income tax and the super-tax to be charged as aforesaid for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1925.

2. —The like exemptions shall be granted from the tax for the several years beginning on the 6th day of April, 1925, the 6th day of April, 1926, and the 6th day of April, 1927, respectively, as were granted by section 3 of the Finance Act, 1924 (No. 27 of 1924), from the tax for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1924.

3. —(1) Military gratuities and demobilisation pay granted to officers of the National Forces or the Defence Forces of Saorstát Eireann on demobilisation shall be exempt and shall be deemed to have been exempt since the 5th day of April, 1923, from income tax (including super-tax) and shall not be reckoned in computing income for the purposes of the Income Tax Acts.

(2) The wounds and disabilities pensions to which section 16 of the Finance Act, 1919, applies shall include all wound pensions and gratuities granted under the Army Pensions Act, 1923 (No. 26 of 1923), and shall be deemed to have included such wound pensions and gratuities as from the 5th day of April, 1922, and the said section 16 of the Finance Act, 1919, shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

(3) If any person has paid income tax or super-tax of an amount exceeding that which he would have been liable to pay if this section had been in force, he shall, on proof of the facts to the satisfaction of the Special Commissioners, be entitled to repayment of the excess.

4. —(1) Any profits or gains arising to an agricultural society from an exhibition or show held for the purposes of the society shall, if they are applied solely to the purposes of the society, be exempt from income tax.

(2) The expression “agricultural society” in this section means any society or institution established for the purpose of promoting the interests of agriculture, horticulture, live-stock breeding, or forestry.

5. —In paragraph (b) of the proviso to sub-section (1) of section 187 of the Income Tax Act, 1918 the word “interest” shall be deemed to include “payment.”

6. —The Rules applicable to Case V. of Schedule D of the Income Tax Act, 1918, shall be construed and have effect as if the following Rule were inserted therein after Rule 4, that is to say:—

“5.—Where a person who has been charged with tax in respect of income from a possession out of Saorstát Eireann proves that the total amount of tax, computed in accordance with Rule 1 of the Rules applicable to Cases I. and II. of Schedule D, which was paid in respect of that income for the first three complete years of assessment during which he was the owner of the possession exceeds the total amount which would have been paid if he had been assessed for each of those years on the actual amount of the income of each year, he shall be entitled to repayment of the excess.

An application for repayment under this Rule shall be made within twelve months after the end of the three years aforesaid and shall be determined by the Special Commissioners, whose determination thereon shall be final and conclusive.”

7. —Rule 3 of the General Rules applicable to Schedules A, B, C, D, and E of the Income Tax Act, 1918, shall be construed and have effect as if there were inserted at the beginning thereof the words “Every citizen of Saorstát Eireann and”.

8. —(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, an assessment or an additional first assessment in respect of income tax chargeable for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1922, or any subsequent year may be amended or made (as the case may be) under section 125 of the Income Tax Act, 1918, at any time not later than six years after the expiration of the year of assessment.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, a surcharge in respect of income tax chargeable for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1922, or any subsequent year may be made under section 126 of the Income Tax Act, 1918, at any time not later than six years after the end of the year for which the person surcharged ought to have been charged.

(3) Subject to the provisions of this section, an assessment in respect of super-tax chargeable for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1922, or any subsequent year may be amended, or an assessment or additional assessment in respect of super-tax chargeable as aforesaid may be made, under sub-section (7) of section 7 of the Income Tax Act, 1918, at any time not later than six years after the end of the year of assessment.

(4) For the purposes of the charge of income tax or super-tax on the executors or administrators of a deceased person in respect of the profits or gains or income which arose or accrued to him before his death, none of the several acts and things mentioned in the foregoing sub-sections of this section may be done later than the end of the third year after the year of assessment in which the deceased person died.

9. —(1) Section 25 (which grants relief from tax in respect of income accumulated under trusts) of the Income Tax Act, 1918, shall, in the case of such a contingency as is referred to in that section happening in the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1922, or in any subsequent year of assessment, be construed and have effect as if the words “within six years after the end of the year of assessment” were inserted therein in lieu of the words “within three years after the end of the year of assessment” now contained therein.

(2) Section 41 (which limits the time for claims for repayment) of the Income Tax Act, 1918, shall, so far as relates to claims for repayment in respect of income tax charged for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1922, or any subsequent year of assessment, be construed and have effect as if the words “within six years next after the end of the year of assessment” were inserted therein in lieu of the words “within three years next after the end of the year of assessment” now contained therein.

(3) Rule 5 (which relates to the time for claiming allowances) of No. V. of Schedule A of the Income Tax Act, 1918, shall, so far as relates to claims for repayment in respect of income tax charged for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1922, or any subsequent year of assessment, be construed and have effect as if the words “within six years after the expiration of the year of assessment” were inserted therein in lieu of the words “within three years after the expiration of the year of assessment” now contained therein.

(4) Whenever a claim for repayment of income tax is authorised by the Income Tax Acts to be made at or within a specified period (being less than one year) after the end of the year of assessment such claim may hereafter be made at any time within one year after the end of the year of assessment.

10. —(1) Proceedings for the recovery of any fine or penalty incurred under the Income Tax Acts as amended by this Act in relation to or connection with the income tax or super-tax charged for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1922, or any subsequent year may be begun at any time within six years next after the date on which such fine or penalty was incurred.

(2) Section 30 (which imposes penalties for fraudulent claims) of the Income Tax Act, 1918, shall be construed and have effect as if the words “five hundred pounds” were inserted in sub-section (2) thereof in lieu of the words “fifty pounds” now contained in that sub-section.

(3) Section 107 (which imposes penalties for neglect to deliver lists, declarations, and statements) of the Income Tax Act, 1918, shall be construed and have effect as if the words “twenty pounds and treble the tax which he ought to be charged under this Act” were inserted in paragraph (b) of sub-section (1) thereof in lieu of the words “fifty pounds” now contained in that paragraph.

(4) Section 132 (which imposes penalties for fraudulent conversion of property, etc.) of the Income Tax Act, 1918, shall be construed and have effect as if the words “five hundred pounds” were inserted in sub-section (2) thereof in lieu of the words “fifty pounds” now contained in that sub-section.

(5) Subject and without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (4) of section 7 and sub-section (2) of section 8 of the Income Tax Act, 1918, all the provisions of the Income Tax Acts imposing or otherwise relating to penalties for acts (whether of commission or omission) in relation to income tax shall apply to and operate to impose the like penalties for the corresponding acts in relation to super-tax.

11. —Any repayment of income tax for any year of assessment, whether ending before or after the passing of this Act, to which any person may be entitled in respect of any deduction allowed under sections 18 to 22 of the Finance Act, 1920, or in respect of the reduction of the rate of tax on the first two hundred and twenty-five pounds of taxable income under section 23 of that Act, shall be made at the standard rate of tax for that year, or at half that rate, as the case may be, but subject to such adjustments as may be proper in cases where relief is given under or by virtue of the Double Taxation (Relief) Act, 1923 (No. 8 of 1923): Provided that, in the case of any person who proves as regards any year that, by reason of the deductions to which he is entitled, he has no taxable income for that year, any repayment to be made shall be a repayment of the whole amount of the tax paid by him, whether by deduction or otherwise, in respect of his income for that year.

12. —(1) Any person who is aggrieved by the decision of the Revenue Commissioners on any question to which this section applies may, by notice in writing to that effect given to the Revenue Commissioners within two months from the date on which notice of the decision is given to him, make an application to have his claim for relief heard and determined by the Special Commissioners.

(2) Where an application is made under this section, the Special Commissioners shall hear and determine the claim in like manner as an appeal made to them against an assessment and all the provisions of the Income Tax Acts relating to such an appeal (including the provisions relating to the statement of a case for the opinion of the High Court on a point of law but excluding the provisions of section 196 of the Income Tax Act, 1918) shall apply accordingly with any necessary modifications.

(3) This section applies to the following questions:—

(a) any question as to domicile or ordinary residence arising under paragraph (a) of Rule 2 of the Rules applicable to Case IV. of Schedule D, or under paragraph (a) of Rule 3 of the Rules applicable to Case V. of Schedule D;

(b) any question as to residence arising—

(i) under paragraph (d) of Rule 2 of the General Rules applicable to Schedule C; or

(ii) under Rule 7 of the Miscellaneous Rules applicable to Schedule D in connection with a claim for repayment of Income Tax made to the Revenue Commissioners by the person owning the stocks, funds, shares, or securities and entitled to the income arising therefrom, or entitled to the annuities, pensions, or other annual sums, as the case may be, and from whose income a deduction has been made on account of the income tax assessed and charged under the said Rule.

13. —(1) Every warrant, cheque, or other order drawn or made or purporting to be drawn or made after the 30th day of November, 1925, and sent or delivered for the purpose of paying any interest or dividend distributed by a company which is entitled to deduct income tax from such interest or dividend shall have annexed thereto or be accompanied by a statement in writing showing—

(a) the gross amount which, after deduction of the income tax appropriate thereto, corresponds to the net amount actually paid, and

(b) the rate and amount of income tax appropriate to such gross amount, and

(c) the net amount actually paid.

(2) If a company fails to comply with any of the provisions of this section the company shall incur a penalty of ten pounds in respect of each offence but the aggregate amount of the penalties imposed under this section on any company in respect of offences connected with any one payment or distribution of interest or dividends shall not exceed one hundred pounds.

(3) In this section the word “company” means and includes a company within the meaning of the Companies (Consolidation) Act, 1908, and a company created by letters patent or by or in pursuance of any British Statute or Act of the Oireachtas.

14. — Section 6 (which relates to the remuneration of persons entrusted with the payment of interest, etc.) of the Finance Act, 1924 (No. 27 of 1924), shall be construed and have effect and be deemed always to have had effect as if the following sub-section were inserted therein in lieu of the sub-section (1) now contained therein, that is to say:—

“(1) Where a person entrusted with the payment of any interest, dividends, or other annual payments payable out of any public revenue other than that of Saorstát Eireann or in respect of the stocks, funds, shares, or securities of any foreign company, society, adventure, or concern complies with the conditions prescribed by the Revenue Commissioners under sub-section (2) of section 10 of the Finance Act, 1923 (No. 21 of 1923), such person shall be entitled to receive as remuneration an allowance to be calculated by reference to the amount of the dividends, interest, or other annual payments in respect of which such conditions have been complied with and to be fixed by the Minister for Finance at a rate or rates not being in any case less than thirteen shillings and sixpence for every thousand pounds of that amount.”

15. —To remove doubts it is hereby declared and enacted that so much of section 69 of the Local Government Act, 1925 (No. 5 of 1925), as enacts that for the purposes of the assessment and levying of certain rates the valuation of certain buildings under the Valuation Acts shall be deemed to have been reduced by two-thirds does not and shall not apply to or operate to reduce the annual value with reference to which the tax in respect of such buildings under Schedules A and B of the Income Tax Act, 1918, is to be ascertained, and it is hereby further declared and enacted that, notwithstanding the said section 69 but without prejudice to the proviso to sub-section (1) of section 187 of the Income Tax Act, 1918, the annual value of such buildings shall for the purposes of the ascertainment of the said tax be taken to be the full amount of the valuation thereof for the time being in force under the Valuation Acts.