337 Residential accommodation: allowance to owner-occupiers in respect of certain expenditure on construction or refurbishment.

[FA97 s154]

(1) In this section—

“qualifying expenditure”, in relation to an individual, means an amount equal to the amount of the expenditure incurred by the individual in the qualifying period on the construction or, as the case may be, refurbishment of a qualifying premises which is a qualifying owner-occupied dwelling in relation to the individual after deducting from that amount of expenditure any sum in respect of or by reference to—

(a) that expenditure,

(b) the qualifying premises, or

(c) the construction or, as the case may be, refurbishment work in respect of which that expenditure was incurred,

which the individual has received or is entitled to receive, directly or indirectly, from the State, any board established by statute or any public or local authority;

“qualifying owner-occupied dwelling”, in relation to an individual, means a qualifying premises which is wholly within the Temple Bar Area and is first used, after the qualifying expenditure has been incurred, by the individual as his or her only or main residence;

“qualifying premises”, in relation to the incurring of qualifying expenditure, means, subject to subsections (4) and (5) of section 338, a house—

(a) which is used solely as a dwelling,

(b) in respect of which, if it is not a new house (for the purposes of section 4 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1979) provided for sale, there is in force a certificate of reasonable cost the amount specified in which in respect of the cost of construction or, as the case may be, refurbishment of the house is not less than the expenditure actually incurred on such construction or refurbishment, as the case may be, and

(c) the total floor area of which—

(i) is not less than 30 square metres and not more than—

(I) 125 square metres, or

(II) as respects expenditure incurred before the 12th day of April, 1995, on the construction of a house, and expenditure incurred before the 26th day of January, 1994, on the refurbishment of a house, 90 square metres,

in the case where the house is a separate self-contained flat or maisonette in a building of 2 or more storeys, or

(ii) in any other case, is not less than 35 square metres and not more than 125 square metres.

(2) Where an individual, having made a claim in that behalf, proves to have incurred qualifying expenditure in a year of assessment, the individual shall be entitled, for that year of assessment and for any of the 9 subsequent years of assessment in which the qualifying premises in respect of which the expenditure was incurred is the only or main residence of the individual, to have a deduction made from his or her total income of an amount equal to—

(a) in the case where the qualifying expenditure has been incurred on the construction of the qualifying premises, 5 per cent of the amount of that expenditure, or

(b) in the case where the qualifying expenditure has been incurred on the refurbishment of the qualifying premises, 10 per cent of the amount of that expenditure.

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(2A) Where the year of assessment first mentioned in subsection (2) or any of the 9 subsequent years of assessment is the year of assessment 2001, that subsection shall apply—

(a) as if for “any of the 9 subsequent years of assessment” there were substituted “any of the 10 subsequent years of assessment”,

(b) as respects the year of assessment 2001, as if “3.7 per cent” and “7.4 per cent” were substituted for “5 per cent” and “10 per cent”, respectively, and

(c) as respects the year of assessment which is the 10th year of assessment subsequent to the year of assessment first mentioned in that subsection, as if “1.3 per cent” and “2.6 per cent” were substituted for “5 per cent” and “10 per cent”, respectively.

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(3) For the purposes of this section, where qualifying expenditure is incurred in the qualifying period on the refurbishment of a qualifying premises, such expenditure shall be deemed to include the lesser of—

(a) any expenditure incurred on the purchase of the qualifying premises, other than expenditure incurred on the acquisition of, or of rights in or over, any land, and

(b) an amount equal to the value of the qualifying premises as on the 1st day of January, 1991, other than any amount of such value as is attributable to, or to rights in or over, any land,

if the expenditure referred to in paragraph (a) or the amount referred to in paragraph (b), as the case may be, is not greater than the amount of the qualifying expenditure actually incurred in the qualifying period on the refurbishment of the qualifying premises.

(4) Where the qualifying expenditure in relation to a qualifying premises is incurred by 2 or more persons, each of those persons shall be treated as having incurred the expenditure in the proportions in which they actually bore the expenditure, and the expenditure shall be apportioned accordingly.

(5) This section shall apply as if a deduction given to an individual for any year of assessment under section 44 of the Finance Act, 1986, as applied by section 55 of the Finance Act, 1991, were a deduction given to the individual under this section in respect of qualifying expenditure.

(6) Section 338 shall apply for the purposes of supplementing this section.