Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997 (Number 39 of 1997)

2 Interpretation of Tax Acts.

[ITA67 s1(1); CTA76 s155(3) to (5) and s171; F(MP)A68 s3(2) and Sch PtI; FA74 s1; FA75 s33(1); FA77 s41(1); FA97 s146(1) and Sch9 PtI par1(1)]

(1) In the Tax Acts, except where otherwise provided or the context otherwise requires—

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“Appeal Commissioners” has the meaning assigned to it by section 850;
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“Appeal Commissioner” has the meaning given to it by section 2 of the Finance (Tax Appeals) Act 2015;

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“appropriate inspector” in relation to a person, means—

(a) the inspector or other officer of the Revenue Commissioners (in this definition referred to as ‘officer’) who has last given notice in writing to the person that he or she is the inspector or officer to whom the person is required to deliver an account, declaration, list, particular, return, statement or other item,

(b) in the absence of an inspector or officer referred to in paragraph (a), the inspector or officer to whom it is customary for the person to deliver such an account, declaration, list, particular, return, statement or other item,

(c) in the absence of an inspector or officer referred to in paragraph (a) or (b), the inspector or officer in charge of the Revenue district ^[15]>or branch^<[15] which deals with the tax affairs of persons located in the city or county (or the part of the city or county) in which the person is located, or

(d) in any case where the person is directed to deliver an account, declaration, list, particular, return, statement or other item to the inspector of returns, the inspector of returns;

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“body of persons” means any body politic, corporate or collegiate, and any company, fraternity, fellowship and society of persons, whether corporate or not corporate;

“capital allowance” means any allowance (other than an allowance or deduction to be made in computing profits or gains) under—

(a) Part 9,

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(b) section 658,
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(b) Part 23,

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(d) Part 29,

and “capital allowances” shall be construed accordingly;

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“Clerk to the Appeal Commissioners” means the person for the time being authorised by the Appeal Commissioners to act as such;
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“child of the civil partner”, in relation to an individual, means a child of the individual’s civil partner who was born before the registration of their civil partnership or during their civil partnership;

“civil partner” means a civil partner within the meaning of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010;

“civil partnership” means—

(a) a civil partnership registration referred to in section 3(a) of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010, or

(b) a legal relationship referred to in section 3(b) of that Act;

“cohabitant” means a cohabitant within the meaning of section 172(1) of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010;

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“Collector-General” means the Collector-General appointed under section 851;

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“decree of dissolution” means a decree under section 110 of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010;

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“inspector” means an inspector of taxes appointed under section 852;
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“inspector” means—

(a) an inspector of taxes appointed under section 852,

(b) an officer of the Revenue Commissioners who as part of his or her duties in that capacity carries out duties similar to those of an inspector of taxes appointed under section 852, including (but not limited to) the making and amending of assessments~~^[14]>, the making of determinations and dealing with notices of appeal against assessments and determinations^<[14]~~^[14]>and the making of determinations^<[14], or

(c) an officer of the Revenue Commissioners who is employed or acts in the execution of the Tax Acts or the Capital Gains Tax Acts;

“inspector of returns” means the inspector nominated under subsection (1A) by the Revenue Commissioners to be the inspector of returns;

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“local authority” means—

(a) the corporation of a county or other borough,

(b) the council of a county, or

(c) the council of an urban district;
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“local authority” means a local authority for the purposes of the Local Government Act 2001 (as amended by the Local Government Reform Act 2014);

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“nominated civil partner” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1031A;

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“ordinary share capital”, in relation to a company, means all the issued share capital (by whatever name called) of the company, other than capital the holders of which have a right to a dividend at a fixed rate, but have no other right to share in the profits of the company;

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“other civil partner” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1031A;

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“profession” includes vocation;

“resident” and “ordinarily resident”, in relation to an individual, shall be construed in accordance with Part 34;

“statute” has the same meaning as in section 3 of the Interpretation Act, 1937;

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“surviving civil partner”, in relation to 2 individuals who were civil partners of each other until the death of one of them, means the civil partner other than the civil partner who died;

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“tax credit” means a credit under section 136;
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“year of assessment” means a year for which income tax is imposed by any Act imposing duties of income tax;
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“year of assessment” means—

(a) in relation to a period prior to 6 April 2001, a year beginning on 6 April in one year and ending on 5 April in the next year,

(b) the period beginning on 6 April 2001 and ending on 31 December 2001, which period is referred to as the “year of assessment 2001”, and

(c) thereafter, a calendar year and, accordingly, the “year of assessment 2002” means the year beginning on 1 January 2002 and any corresponding expression in which a subsequent year of assessment is similarly mentioned means the year beginning on 1 January in that year;

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“the year 1997-98” means the year of assessment beginning on the 6th day of April, 1997, and any corresponding expression in which 2 years are similarly mentioned means the year of assessment beginning on the 6th day of April in the first-mentioned of those 2 years;

a source of income is within the charge to corporation tax or income tax if that tax is chargeable on the income arising from it, or would be so chargeable if there were any such income, and references to a person, or to income, being within the charge to tax, shall be similarly construed.

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(1A) (a) The Revenue Commissioners may nominate an inspector to be the inspector of returns.

(b) The inspector of returns shall take delivery of any account, declaration, list, particular, return, statement or other item which, under the Tax Acts or the Capital Gains Tax Acts, is required to be delivered to him or her.

(c) Where an inspector is nominated under paragraph (a), the name of the inspector so nominated, and the address to which anything referred to in paragraph (b) is to be directed, shall be published in the Iris Oifigiúil;

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(2) Except where the context otherwise requires, in the Tax Acts, and in any enactment passed after this Act which by an express provision is to be construed as one with those Acts, “tax”, where neither income tax nor corporation tax is specified, means either of those taxes.

(3) Subsection (2) is without prejudice to section 76 (which applies income tax law for certain purposes of corporation tax), and accordingly the use of “income tax” rather than “tax” in any provision of the Income Tax Acts is not a conclusive indication that that provision is not applied to corporation tax by section 76.

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(3A) In the Tax Acts, a reference to a tax credit, in relation to a distribution, shall be construed as a reference to a tax credit as computed in accordance with those Acts as they applied at the time of the making of the distribution.

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(3B) In the Tax Acts, any reference, howsoever expressed, to an individual or a claimant—

(a) being a man, a married man or a husband, shall be construed as including, as necessary, a reference to a woman, a married woman or a wife, and

(b) being a woman, a married woman or a wife shall be construed as including, as necessary, a reference to a man, a married man or a husband.

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(4) In the Tax Acts (other than sections 24, 25 and 239), except where the context otherwise requires—

(a) references to income tax paid by a person by deduction shall be construed as including references to a tax credit to which the person is entitled, and

(b) references to repayment of income tax shall be construed as including references to payment of a tax credit.
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