472B Seafarer allowance, etc.

(1) In this section—

“authorised officer” has the same meaning as in section 818;

“employment” means an office or employment of profit such that any emoluments of the office or employment of profit are to be charged to tax under Schedule D or Schedule E;

“international voyage” means a voyage beginning or ending in a port outside the State;

“Member State” means a member state of the European Communities;

“Member State’s Register” shall be construed in accordance with the Annex to the Official Journal of the European Communities (No. C205) of the 5th day of July, 1997;

“qualifying employment” means an employment, being an employment to which this section applies, the duties of which are performed wholly on board a sea–going ship on an international voyage;

“qualifying individual” means an individual who—

(a) holds a qualifying employment, and

(b) has entered into an agreement (known as “articles of agreement”) with the master of that ship;

“sea-going ship” means a ship which—

(a) is registered in a Member State’s Register, and

(b) is used solely for the trade of carrying by sea passengers or cargo for reward,

but does not include a fishing vessel.

(2) For the purposes of this section—

(a) an individual shall be deemed to be absent from the State for a day if the individual is absent from the State at the end of the day, and

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(b) a port outside the State shall be deemed to include a mobile or fixed rig, platform or installation of any kind in any maritime area other than an area designated by order under section 2 of the Continental Shelf Act, 1968.

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(b) a port outside the State shall be deemed to include a mobile or fixed rig, platform or installation of any kind in any maritime area.

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(3) (a) Subject to paragraph (b), this section shall apply to an employment other than—

(i) an employment the emoluments of which are paid out of the revenue of the State, or

(ii) an employment with any board, authority or other similar body established in the State by or under statute.

(b) This section shall not apply in any case where the income from an employment—

(i) is chargeable to tax in accordance with section 71(3), or

(ii) is income to which section 822 applies.

(4) Where for any year of assessment an individual resident in the State makes a claim in that behalf to an authorised officer and satisfies that officer that he or she is a qualifying individual and that he or she was absent from the State for at least ^[3]>169 days^<[3][3]>125 days^<[3], or such greater number of days as the Minister for Finance, after consultation with the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, may from time to time, by order made for the purposes of this subsection, substitute for that number of days (or, as the case may be, for the number of days substituted by the last previous order under this subsection), in that year for the purposes of performing the duties of a qualifying employment, he or she shall be entitled, in computing the amount of his or her taxable income, to have a deduction of ^[4]>[3]>£5,000^<[3][3]>£3,700^<[3]<[4][4]>€6,350^<[4] made from so much, if any, of his or her total income as is attributable to the income, profits or gains from the qualifying employment.

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(4A) (a) Notwithstanding subsection (4), but subject to paragraph (b)—

(i) as respects the year of assessment 2001, the reference in that subsection to “125 days” shall be construed as a reference to “119 days”, and

(ii) as respects the year of assessment 2002 and subsequent years of assessment, the reference in that subsection to “169 days” shall be construed as a reference to “161 days”.

(b) Paragraph (a) shall come into operation on such day as the Minister for Finance may by order appoint.

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(5) Where, for a year of assessment, an individual claims a deduction under this section, he or she shall not be entitled to a deduction under section 823.

(6) For the purposes of the definition of “qualifying employment” in this section, any duties of the employment not performed on board a sea-going ship on an international voyage, the performance of which is merely incidental to the performance of the duties of the employment on board a sea-going ship on an international voyage, shall be treated for the purposes of that definition as having been performed on board the sea-going ship.