Chapter III

Trades and Professions Carried on in Partnership

69. —(1) In this Chapter—

“annual payment” means any payment from which, apart from any insufficiency of profits or gains of the person making it, tax is deductible under section 433;

“balancing charge” means a balancing charge under Part XVI;

“basis period” means, in relation to a year of assessment, the period on the profits or gains of which income tax for that year falls to be finally computed under Case I of Schedule D in respect of the trade in question or, where, by virtue of this Act, the profits or gains of any other period are to be taken to be the profits or gains of the said period, that other period;

“capital allowance” means any allowance, other than an allowance falling to be made in computing profits or gains, under section 241 or Part XIV, XV, XVI or XVII;

“partnership trade” means a trade which is carried on by two or more persons in partnership;

“precedent partner” means in relation to a partnership the partner who, being resident in the State—

(a) is first named in the partnership agreement, or

(b) if there is no agreement, is named singly or with precedence to the other partners in the usual name of the firm, or

(c) is the precedent acting partner, if the person named with precedence is not an acting partner,

and any reference to precedent partner shall, in a case in which no partner is resident in the State, be construed as a reference to the agent, manager, or factor of the firm resident in the State;

“relevant period” means in relation to a partnership trade a continuous period the whole or part of which is after the 5th day of April, 1965—

(a) beginning at a time when either the trade was not carried on immediately before it by two or more persons in partnership or none of the persons then carrying on the trade in partnership was one of the persons who immediately before it carried on the trade in partnership, and

(b) continuing so long as (but only so long as) there has not occurred a time when either the trade is not carried on immediately after it by two or more persons in partnership or none of the persons then carrying on the trade in partnership is one of the persons who immediately after it carry on the trade in partnership,

subject to the proviso that, in the case of any such period which, apart from this proviso, would have begun before the 6th day of April, 1965, “the relevant period” shall be taken as having begun at the time, or at the last of two or more times, at which, a change having occurred in the partnership of persons then engaged in carrying on the trade, the persons so engaged immediately after the time fell to be treated for the purposes of income tax as having set up or commenced the trade at that time.

(2) In relation to a case in which a partnership trade is from time to time during a relevant period carried on by two or more different partnerships of persons, any reference in this Chapter to the partnership shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as including a reference to any partnership of persons by whom the trade has been carried on since the beginning of the relevant period and any reference to a partner shall be construed correspondingly.

(3) The provisions of this Chapter shall, with any necessary modifications, apply in relation to professions, as they apply in relation to trades.

70. —(1) The precedent partner of any partnership, when required to do so by a notice given to him in relation to any year of assessment by an inspector, shall, within the time limited by the notice, prepare and deliver to the inspector a return in the prescribed form of—

(a) all the sources of income of the partnership for the year of assessment (in this section referred to as the preceding year) immediately preceding the year of assessment in relation to which the notice is given;

(b) the amount of income from each source for the preceding year computed in accordance with subsection (2);

(c) such further particulars for the purposes of income tax (including sur-tax) for the preceding year or the year of assessment as may be required by the notice or indicated by the prescribed form.

(2) The amount of income from any source to be included in a return under this section shall be computed in accordance with the provisions of this Act save that the computation shall be made in all cases by reference to the preceding year:

Provided that—

(a) in the case of such interest as is referred to in section 344 the computation shall be made without regard to that section;

(b) where, in the case of a trade, an account has been made up to a date within the preceding year or more accounts than one have been made up to dates within that year, the computation shall be made by reference to the period or to all the periods, where there are more than one, for which accounts have been made up as aforesaid.

(3) If a person delivers to any inspector a return in a prescribed form, he shall be deemed to have been required by a notice under this section to prepare and deliver that return.

(4) In proceedings for recovery of a penalty incurred under section 500 or 501 in relation to a return referred to in the preceding provisions of this section—

(a) a certificate signed by an inspector which certifies that he has examined his relevant records and that it appears from them that a stated notice was duly given to the defendant on a stated day shall be evidence until the contrary is proved that that person received that notice in the ordinary course,

(b) a certificate signed by an inspector which certifies that he has examined his relevant records and that it appears from them that, during a stated period, a stated return was not received from the defendant shall be evidence until the contrary is proved that the defendant did not, during that period, deliver that return,

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

(5) In this section “prescribed” means prescribed by the Revenue Commissioners.

71. —(1) In the case of a partnership trade this Act shall, subject to the provisions of this Chapter, have effect in relation to any partner in the partnership as if for any relevant period—

(a) any profits or gains arising to him from the trade and any loss sustained by him therein were respectively profits or gains of, and loss sustained in, a trade (hereafter in this Chapter referred to as a several trade) carried on solely by him being a trade—

(i) set up or commenced at the beginning of the relevant period, or if he commenced to be engaged in carrying on the partnership trade at some time in the relevant period other than the beginning thereof, at the time when he so commenced, and

(ii) when he ceases to be engaged in carrying on the partnership trade, either during the relevant period or at the end thereof, permanently discontinued at the time when he so ceases, and

(b) he had paid the part he was liable to bear of any annual payment paid by the partnership.

(2) (a) For any year or period within the relevant period the amount of the profits or gains arising to any partner from his several trade, or the amount of loss sustained by him therein, shall, for the purposes of subsection (1), be taken to be so much of the full amount of the profits or gains of the partnership trade or, as the case may be, of the full amount of the loss sustained in the partnership trade as would fall to his share on an apportionment thereof made in accordance with the terms of the partnership agreement as to the sharing of profits and losses.

(b) Where the year or period (hereafter in this paragraph referred to as the period of computation) for which the profits or gains of, or the loss sustained in, the several trade of a partner is to be computed under this subsection, is, or is part of, a year or period for which an account of the partnership trade has been made up, sections 60 and 107 shall apply in relation to the partner as if an account of his several trade had been made up for the period of computation.

(c) Where in the case of the several trade of a partner the basis period for any year of assessment begins before the 6th day of April, 1965, the profits or gains of that basis period shall be computed in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this subsection notwithstanding that those provisions were not in force in that period or some part thereof.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), the full amount of the profits or gains of the partnership trade for any year or period, or the full amount of the loss sustained in such trade in any year or period, shall, subject to section 73, be determined by the inspector and any such determination shall be made as it would have fallen to be made if the trade—

(a) had been set up or commenced at the beginning of the relevant period, and

(b) where the relevant period has come to an end, had been permanently discontinued at the end of that period, and

(c) had at all times within the relevant period been carried on by one and the same person and everything done in the carrying on thereof to or by the persons by whom it was in fact carried on had been done to or by that person:

Provided that in a case in which the relevant period began at some time before the 6th day of April, 1965, and the trade did not fall to be treated for the purposes of income tax as having been set up or commenced at that time, the relevant period shall, for the purposes of this subsection, be deemed to have begun at the time at which the trade was treated for the purposes of income tax as having been set up or commenced and, in any such case, any profits or gains arising to any person from the trade, or any loss sustained by him in the trade, for any year or period within the relevant period during which he was engaged in the trade on his own account shall be deemed to be profits or gains arising to him from, or, as the case may be, loss sustained by him in, a partnership trade in which he was entitled during the year or period in question to the full amount of the profits or gains arising or was liable to bear the full amount of the loss.

(4) Where the shares to which the partners are entitled in the basis period for a year of assessment do not exhaust the profits of the trade carried on by the partnership for that period, an assessment shall be made under Case IV of Schedule D on the precedent partner in respect of the unexhausted portion of the profits and the precedent partner shall, if and when such balance falls to be paid to a person entitled thereto, be entitled to deduct from such balance any amounts of tax which have been assessed on and paid by him and he shall be acquitted and discharged of any such amounts.

(5) This section shall not cause any income which, apart from this section, is not earned income to become earned income.

72. —(1) The provisions of this Act as regards the making of capital allowances and balancing charges in charging the profits or gains of a trade shall, in relation to the several trade of a partner in a partnership, have effect subject to the following provisions of this section.

(2) Where for any year of assessment a claim has been made, as provided by subsection (9), by the precedent partner for the time being of any partnership, there shall be made to any partner in the partnership in charging the profits or gains of his several trade a capital allowance in respect of any expenditure or property equal to his appropriate share of any capital allowance for that year (excluding any amount carried forward from an earlier year) (hereafter in this section referred to as a joint allowance) which, apart from any insufficiency of profits or gains, might have been made in respect thereof in charging the profits or gains of the partnership trade if this Act had provided that those profits should be charged by joint assessment on the persons carrying on the trade in the year of assessment as if—

(a) those persons had at all times been carrying on the trade and everything done to or by their predecessors in, or in relation to, the carrying on thereof had been done to or by them, and

(b) the trade had been set up or commenced at the beginning of the relevant period and, where the relevant period has come to an end, had been permanently discontinued at the end of that period.

(3) For any year of assessment there shall be made on any partner in a partnership in charging the profits or gains of his several trade a balancing charge equal to his appropriate share of any balancing charge (hereafter in this section referred to as a joint charge) which would have fallen to be made for that year in charging the profits or gains of the partnership trade if this Act had provided that those profits should be charged as specified in subsection (2).

(4) Where at the end of the relevant period a person or a partnership of persons succeeds to a partnership trade and any property which, immediately before the succession takes place, was in use for the purposes of the partnership trade and, without being sold is, immediately after the succession takes place, in use for the purposes of the trade carried on by the successor or successors, section 300 (1) shall apply as it applies where, by virtue of any of the provisions of section 59, a trade is to be treated as discontinued.

(5) Where for a partnership trade the relevant period began at some time before the 6th day of April, 1965, and the trade did not fall to be treated for the purposes of income tax as having been set up or commenced at that time, the relevant period shall, for the purposes of subsections (2) and (3), be deemed to have begun at the time at which the trade was treated for the purposes of income tax as having been set up or commenced.

(6) (a) In relation to any partnership trade the total amount of all joint allowances for any year of assessment and the total amount of all joint charges for that year shall, subject to section 73, be determined by the inspector.

(b) Where after a determination has been made under paragraph (a) the inspector becomes aware of any facts or events by reference to which the determination is in his opinion incorrect, he may from time to time and as often as appears to him to be necessary make a revised determination, and any such revised determination shall supersede any earlier determination and any such additional assessments or repayments of tax shall be made as may be necessary.

(7) (a) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (b), for any year of assessment the partners' appropriate shares of a joint allowance, or of a joint charge, shall be arrived at by apportioning the full amount thereof between the partners on the same basis as a like amount of profits arising in the trading period from the partnership trade, and accruing from day to day over that period, would fall to be apportioned in accordance with the terms of the partnership if any salary, interest on capital or other sum to which any partner was entitled without regard to the amount of the profits arising from the partnership trade had already been provided for.

In this paragraph “trading period” means, where the relevant period begins or ends during the year of assessment for which the joint allowance or joint charge is computed, the part of that year of assessment which falls within the relevant period or, in any other case, that year of assessment.

(b) If for any year of assessment all the partners (any deceased partner being represented by his legal representatives) allege, by notice in writing signed by them and sent to the inspector within twelve months after the end of the year of assessment, that hardship is caused to one or more partners by the apportionment of a joint allowance or joint charge on the basis set out in paragraph (a), the Revenue Commissioners may, on being satisfied that hardship has been caused, give such relief as in their opinion is just by making a new apportionment of the joint allowance or joint charge, and any such new apportionment shall for all the purposes of this Act have effect as if it were an apportionment made under paragraph (a) and such additional assessments or repayments of tax shall be made as may be necessary.

(8) For any year of assessment the aggregate amount of all capital allowances brought forward shall, for the purpose of making the assessments on the partners, be deemed to be a joint allowance for that year and subsection (7) shall apply accordingly.

In this subsection a capital allowance brought forward means—

(a) any capital allowance or part of a capital allowance falling to be made to the partnership for the year 1964-65 or any earlier year of assessment which might, if Part VIII of the Finance Act, 1965 , had not been enacted, have been carried forward and made as a deduction in charging the profits or gains of the partnership trade for the year 1965-66, and

(b) any capital allowance or part of a capital allowance falling to be made to a partner for 1965-66 or a later year of assessment which, but for this subsection, might have been carried forward and made as a deduction in charging the profits or gains of the several trade of the partner for a year of assessment subsequent to that for which the capital allowance was computed.

(9) In relation to a partnership trade—

(a) any claim for a joint allowance for any year of assessment shall be made by the precedent partner as if it were a claim for a capital allowance falling to be made to him and shall be included in the return delivered by him, under section 70, in relation to that year of assessment, and

(b) any claim for a joint allowance shall be deemed to be a claim by every partner for a capital allowance falling to be made to him being a capital allowance equal to his appropriate share of that joint allowance.

73. —(1) The inspector may give notice to the partnership concerned of any determination made by him under section 71 (3) or 72 (6) by delivering a statement in writing thereof to the precedent partner for the time being of the partnership and all the provisions of this Act relating to appeals against assessments to income tax shall, with any necessary modifications, apply in relation to any determination and any notice of a determination as if they were respectively such an assessment and notice of such an assessment.

(2) Where a determination has become final and conclusive or, in the case of a determination under section 72 (6) has become final and conclusive subject to paragraph (b) of that subsection, no question as to its correctness shall be raised on the hearing or on the rehearing of an appeal by any partner either against an assessment in respect of the profits or gains of his several trade or against a determination by the inspector on a claim under section 307.

(3) Where on any appeal such as is mentioned in subsection (2) any question arises as to an apportionment falling to be made under section 71 (2) or section 72 (7) and it appears that the question is material as respects the liability to income tax (for whatever year of assessment) of two or more persons, all those persons shall be notified of the time and place of the hearing and shall be entitled to appear and be heard by the Special Commissioners or to make representations to them in writing.

74. —(1) Where for any year of assessment a charge under section 288 (hereafter in this section referred to as a joint charge) would have fallen to be made in charging the profits or gains of a partnership trade if this Act had provided that those profits or gains should be charged as specified in section 72 (2), there shall be made on any partner in the partnership in charging the profits or gains of his several trade a charge under the said section 288 equal to his appropriate share of the joint charge.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) a partner's appropriate share of a joint charge shall be arrived at in the same way as his appropriate share of a joint charge within the meaning of section 72 is to be arrived at by virtue of subsection (7) of that section.