Minister Noonan signed a commencement order (S.I. No. 392 of 2012) which appoints 1 January 2013 as the date on which subsection (2) of section 14 VATCA 2010 (The State and Public Bodies) comes into operation in so far as that subsection applies to the supply of ‘community facilities’.

Subsection 2 of section 14 VATCA 2010 provides that the State and public bodies are treated as taxable persons where they carry out activities or transactions that are outside of their regulatory functions or where those activities or transactions cause or could cause a significant distortion of competition. Section 14(3)(a)(i) defines ‘community facilities’ as meaning the provision of facilities for taking part in sport or physical education other than golf.

Readers can access the VATCA 2010 online via TaxSource Extra, Chartered Accountants Ireland online tax legislation subscription service, which contains the fully consolidated version of the VATCA 2010 up to Finance Act 2012 as well as key Irish and EU VAT Regulations, VAT Directives and links to related Revenue guidance material.