Revenue e-Brief No. 29/2006–27 July 2006 ‘Self-Construction’

Revenue e-brief 26/2006 dealt with the issue of binding contracts where construction or refurbishment work on a building or structure is being carried out by the site owner, being either an individual or a company. The Revenue view was that, because of the nature of the projects being undertaken, most of those projects are unlikely to be undertaken by one person and would invariably involve the engagement of third parties to carry out some, or all, of the actual construction or refurbishment.

In the exceptional situations where a site is owned by an individual or company and that individual or company will use only his/her/its own employees to carry out the development, without recourse to third parties, Revenue accepts that it would not be appropriate to insist on a binding contract between the site owner and another party.

In such cases, Revenue will accept that the ‘binding contract’ condition is met where the site owner, whether an individual or company, swears an affidavit stating that the entire development will be carried out by the site owner's own employees. The affidavit should also contain a statement about the degree to which arrangements are in place by 31 July 2006 to begin work on the particular project. It must be sworn on or before 31 July 2006. The employees must be employed directly by the site owner and not, for example, by an individual's development company where the site is owned by that individual.