45A Obligation to retain certain records

Summary

The purpose of this section is threefold, viz.:

• to oblige accountable persons to retain certain records for the purposes of making a gift or inheritance tax return;
• to describe the type of records required to be retained;
• to prescribe the length of time for which these records must be retained.

This section is modelled on similar provisions found in the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. The section came into effect by way of Ministerial Order on 1 October 2003.

Details

(1) The records covered by the section include any records relating to any benefit taken under any disposition, any liabilities, costs or expenses or to any exemption or relief.

(2) An accountable person will be obliged to retain, by himself/herself or by another person on his/her behalf, such records as are required to enable a true return or an additional return for capital acquisitions tax purposes to be made.

(3) The records must be retained in written form in an official language of the State or by electronic or other means provided it complies with the requirements of section 887(2) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, which mainly requires that the records can be reproduced in an intelligible form.

(4) The records must be retained for 6 years from the valuation date of the gift or inheritance (including an inheritance deemed to be taken by a discretionary trust under sections 15 and 20). However, where there is a delay in filing a gift or inheritance tax return, the period of retention is 6 years from the date of receipt of the return by the Revenue Commissioners. This is also the retention period where the Revenue Commissioners request a return, additional return or statement in certain circumstances from a person or, where an accountable person makes an additional return if they discover an error in the original return.

(5) A penalty of €3,000 is imposed on any person who fails to comply with the requirements of the section, but any person who is not chargeable to tax in respect of the gift or inheritance will not be liable to such a penalty.

Relevant Date: Finance Act 2015