Finance Act, 1950
Acts of the Oireachtas
Source: Acts of the Oireachtas

num: 1
paragraphs: —(1) Income tax shall be charged for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1950, at the rate of six shillings and six pence in the pound.
(2) Sur-tax for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1950, shall be charged in respect of the income of any individual the total of which from all sources exceeds one thousand five hundred pounds and shall be so charged at the same rates as those at which it is charged for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1949.
(3) The several statutory and other provisions which were in force on the 5th day of April, 1950, in relation to income tax and sur-tax shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, have effect in relation to the income tax and sur-tax to be charged as aforesaid for the year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1950.
num: 2
paragraphs: — Section 3 (which relates to exemption of certain military pensions and gratuities) of the Finance Act, 1925 (No. 28 of 1925), is hereby amended by the insertion therein of the following subsection in lieu of subsection (2) now (by virtue of section 3 of the Finance Act, 1946 (No. 15 of 1946)) contained in the said section 3:—
“(2) The wounds and disabilities pensions to which section 16 of the Finance Act, 1919 , applies shall include and be deemed always to have included (a) all wound and disability pensions, and all increases in such pensions, granted under the Army Pensions Acts, 1923 to 1949, and (b) all gratuities in respect of wounds or disabilities similarly granted, and the said section 16 shall be construed and have effect accordingly.”
num: 3
paragraphs: —Where the amount of an allowance to which section 8 (which relates to the exemption of certain allowances under the Army Pensions Acts, 1923 and 1927) of the Finance Act, 1932 (No. 20 of 1932), applied before the passing of the Army Pensions (Increase) Act, 1949 (No. 28 of 1949), has been increased by virtue of section 4 of the said Army Pensions (Increase) Act, 1949 , the said section 8 of the Finance Act, 1932 , shall apply, and be deemed always to have applied, to the whole of such allowance as so increased in amount.
num: 4
paragraphs: —(1) Income to which this section applies shall be exempt from income tax (including sur-tax) and shall not be reckoned in computing income for the purposes of the Income Tax Acts.
(2) This section applies to—
(a) any yearly sum payable under section 1 of the Griffith Settlement Act, 1923 (No. 5 of 1923), and
(b) any allowance payable under section 3 of the Army Pensions Act, 1937 (No. 15 of 1937).
num: 5
paragraphs: — Section 15 of the Finance Act, 1949 (No. 13 of 1949), shall cease to have effect as on and from the 31st day of July, 1950, except in relation to—
(a) unmanufactured tobacco in a bonded warehouse on that date, and
(b) unmanufactured tobacco as respects which it is shown to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that such tobacco was purchased before that date for the purpose of being imported into the State.
num: 6
paragraphs: —Subsection (4) of section 10 of the Finance Act, 1943 (No. 16 of 1943), is hereby amended, as respects entertainments held on or after the 1st day of August, 1950, by the substitution of the words “fifty per cent.” for the words “thirty per cent.”
num: 7
paragraphs: —Entertainments duty within the meaning of and chargeable under section 1 of the Finance (New Duties) Act, 1916 , as amended by subsequent enactments shall not be charged or levied on payments for admission to any entertainment in respect of which it is proved to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that the entertainment is promoted by the Irish Amateur Wrestling Association or by a club affiliated to or under the direct control of that association, and that the entertainment consists solely of an exhibition of the sport of wrestling at or in connection with which no money is awarded or paid to any of the participants or contestants whether as a prize, remuneration, or otherwise.
num: 8
paragraphs: —(1) On and after the 6th day of July, 1950, a person who is authorised to conduct auctions by virtue of—
(a) an auctioneer's licence granted under section 8 of the Auctioneers and House Agents Act, 1947 (No. 10 of 1947), and for the time being in force, or
(b) an auction permit granted under section 9 of that Act and for the time being in force,
may act as an appraiser within the meaning of the Appraisers Licences Act, 1806, without being licensed under that Act.
(2) Section 7 of the Appraisers Licences Act, 1806, shall be repealed as on and from the 6th day of July, 1950.
num: 9
paragraphs: —(1) The Minister for Finance may by regulations make such provision as appears to him to be requisite or expedient for all or any of the following purposes:—
(a) applying any of the provisions of the Customs Acts, subject to such modifications as he considers appropriate, in relation to aerodromes and to aircraft and persons, goods, mails, stores and baggage carried therein, disembarked or unladen therefrom or embarked or laden thereon;
(b) adapting or modifying any of the provisions of the statutes which relate to the duties of excise and the management of those duties in relation to aerodromes and to aircraft and persons, goods, mails, stores and baggage carried therein, disembarked or unladen therefrom or embarked or laden thereon;
(c) preventing smuggling by air;
(d) carrying out, in so far as they relate to the Customs, the provisions of the Chicago Convention.
In this subsection, the expression “the Chicago Convention” has the same meaning as it has in Part II of the Air Navigation and Transport Act, 1946 (No. 23 of 1946), as amended by section 9 of the Air Navigation and Transport Act, 1950 (No. 4 of 1950).
(2) If any person contravenes, whether by act or omission, any regulation under this section, he shall, in addition to any other penalty to which he may be liable, be guilty of an offence against the Customs Acts and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a Customs penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds, and he may either be detained or proceeded against by summons.
(3) Any goods in respect of which an offence under this section may have been committed, together with all aircraft, ships, boats, vehicles, animals and other things used in their conveyance, shall be forfeited.
(4) On the making of the first regulations under this section for the purposes specified in paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of this section, regulations 61 and 63 of the Air Navigation (General) Regulations, 1930 ( S.R. & O., No. 26 of 1930 ), shall cease to have effect.
num: 10
paragraphs: —(1) The convention set forth in the First Schedule to this Act and concluded on the 13th day of September, 1949, between the Government and the Government of the United States of America (in this section referred to as the Convention) is hereby confirmed and shall have the force of law.
(2) Subsection (4) of section 7 of the Finance Act, 1894 (which provides for relief in respect of duty payable in a foreign country) shall not have effect in relation to estate tax chargeable under the laws of the United States of America to which the provisions of the Convention apply.
num: 11
paragraphs: —(1) The exemptions from corporation profits tax specified in subsection (1) of section 33 of the Finance Act, 1929 (No. 32 of 1929), as amended by section 30 of the Finance Act, 1931 (No. 31 of 1931), paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 47 of the Finance Act, 1932 (No. 20 of 1932), and subsection (2) of this section shall be given in respect of the period beginning on the 1st day of January, 1950, and ending on the 31st day of December, 1952.
(2) Subsection (1) of section 33 of the Finance Act, 1929 , as amended by section 30 of the Finance Act, 1931 , and paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 47 of the Finance Act, 1932 , is hereby further amended by the insertion at the end of that subsection of the following word and paragraph:—
“or
(f) in the case of a company which carries on a railway undertaking, to any profits of that company.”
num: 12
paragraphs: —(1) The convention set forth in Part I of the Second Schedule to this Act and concluded on the 13th day of September, 1949, between the Government and the Government of the United States of America (in this section referred to as the Convention) is hereby confirmed and shall have the force of law.
num: 13
paragraphs: —(1) This section applies to any dividend payable after the passing of this Act, being a dividend from which deduction of tax is authorised by Rule 20 of the General Rules.
(2) In this section—
the expression “the company” means a body of persons paying a dividend to which this section applies;
the expression “double taxation relief” means any credit for tax (other than British income tax) payable in any territory outside the State, which is allowable against Irish income tax by virtue of any international agreement having the force of law, including any such credit which has been taken into account in relation to any dividends receivable by the company;
the expression “the reduced Irish rate” means the rate of Irish income tax payable directly or by deduction by the company after taking double taxation relief into account.
(3) (i) Notwithstanding anything in the Income Tax Acts, no relief or repayment in respect of the tax deducted or authorised to be deducted from any dividend to which this section applies shall, in a case in which there is double taxation relief, be allowed at a rate exceeding the reduced Irish rate.
(ii) Where the reduced Irish rate falls to be computed in relation to a dividend, the particulars to be given by the company in the statement required by section 13 of the Finance Act, 1925 (No. 28 of 1925), and section 5 of the Finance Act, 1940 (No. 14 of 1940), shall (in addition to the particulars required to be given apart from this section) include particulars of the reduced Irish rate.
(4) Where a dividend has been paid before the passing of this Act, and any double taxation relief would have fallen to be taken into account in relation to that dividend if this section had applied thereto, that relief shall be taken into account as far as possible in determining the reduced Irish rate in relation to the first dividend payable by the company to which this section applies, and any part of that relief which cannot be so taken into account shall as far as possible be taken into account in relation to the next succeeding dividend, and so on.
(5) Where the whole or any part of any annual payment is payable out of a dividend to which this section applies, and the rate of relief or repayment allowable in respect of the tax deducted or authorised to be deducted from the dividend is affected by double taxation relief, the annual payment, or that part thereof, as the case may be, shall be deemed to be paid out of profits or gains not brought into charge to tax and Rule 21 of the General Rules shall apply accordingly, but the tax recoverable under the said Rule from the person making the payment shall be reduced by an amount equal to tax on the payment or part of the payment at the reduced Irish rate applicable to the dividend.
num: 14
paragraphs: —(1) In this section, the expressions “the reduced Irish rate”, “double taxation relief” and “the company” have the same meaning as in the last preceding section and the word “dividend” means a dividend to which that section applies.
(2) The reduced Irish rate in relation to any dividend shall be taken to be the rate which is produced by deducting—
(a) the rate of double taxation relief for the period for which the dividend is paid, from
(b) the rate of tax authorised to be deducted from the dividend by Rule 20 of the General Rules.
(3) Subject to any adjustment which is required by subsection (4) of the last preceding section or by subsection (4) of this section, the rate of double taxation relief for the period for which the dividend is paid shall be taken to be—
(a) in the case of a dividend paid for a period which falls wholly within any year of assessment, the rate which is produced by dividing the double taxation relief for that year of assessment by a sum consisting of the total income of the company as computed for income tax purposes for that year reduced by the amount of any income the income tax upon which the company is entitled, otherwise than under Rule 20 of the General Rules, to charge against any other person;
(b) in the case of a dividend paid for a period which falls partly within one year of assessment and partly within another year of assessment or other years of assessment, the rate which is produced by determining, in relation to each of those years,—
(i) the rate which would have been applicable if the dividend had been paid for a period falling wholly within that year, and
(ii) the portion of that rate which bears the same proportion to that rate as the part of the period for which the dividend is paid which falls within that year bears to the whole period,
and then aggregating the portions so determined.
(4) Where any matter affecting the calculation of the rate of double taxation relief has not been fully determined at the time when the reduced Irish rate falls to be determined in relation to any dividend, the rate of double taxation relief shall be estimated according to the best of the information available at the time, and, if it is subsequently found that the rate so estimated was excessive or deficient, the appropriate adjustment shall be made in determining the reduced Irish rate applicable to the next subsequent dividend on the occasion of which it is practicable to make the adjustment, and shall be made by reducing or, as the case may be, increasing the rate of double taxation relief, as calculated for the purposes of that subsequent dividend in accordance with the foregoing subsection, by a rate which bears the same proportion to the excess or deficiency in the rate applicable to the first-mentioned dividend as the total amount of the first-mentioned dividend bears to the total amount of that subsequent dividend.
(5) Where the double taxation relief for any year of assessment includes any credit which has been taken into account for the purposes of determining the reduced Irish rate applicable to any dividends received by the company, the amount of that credit shall be taken to be the sum of the amounts which are produced by applying to each such dividend the rate which represents the excess of the rate of tax authorised to be deducted from that dividend by Rule 20 of the General Rules over the reduced Irish rate applicable to that dividend.
(6) For the purposes of this section, a dividend which is not expressed to be paid for any specified period shall be deemed to be paid for the last period for which accounts of the company were made up which ended before the dividend became payable.
num: 15
paragraphs: —This Part of this Act and the Second Schedule to this Act shall, so far as they relate to income tax (including sur-tax), be read and construed together with the Income Tax Acts and shall, so far as they relate to corporation profits tax, be read and construed together with Part V of the Finance Act, 1920, as amended or extended by subsequent enactments.
num: 16
paragraphs: —(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, sections 24 and 25 of the Finance Act, 1949 (No. 13 of 1949), shall not apply and shall be deemed never to have applied in the case of a lease by a local authority under the provisions of the Housing of the Working Classes Acts, 1890 to 1931, or the Labourers Acts, 1883 to 1941, or any Acts amending or extending those Acts, or of a lease by a society registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Acts, 1893 to 1936, and made, in accordance with a scheme for the provision of houses for its members, to a member or to such member and the spouse of the member, and any amount of duty paid before the passing of this Act in respect of any such lease in excess of the amount chargeable under paragraph (3) of the heading “Lease or Tack” in the First Schedule to the Stamp Act, 1891, as amended by subsequent enactments other than the Finance Act, 1949 , may be repaid.
(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall apply if, but only if—
(a) as respects section 24 of the Finance Act, 1949 —the lease contains a statement by the lessee certifying that the person who becomes entitled to the entire beneficial interest in the lessee's interest under the lease (or, where more than one person becomes entitled to a beneficial interest therein, each of them) is a person falling within a specified one of the classes set out in paragraphs (a) to (f) of subsection (4) of section 24 of the Finance Act, 1949 , and
(b) as respects section 25 of the Finance Act, 1949 —either the lease contains a statement such as aforesaid or the Revenue Commissioners are satisfied that it could properly have contained such a statement as aforesaid.
num: 17
paragraphs: —(1) Whenever and so often as the rent for the time being payable in respect of any lease first executed on or after the 3rd day of May, 1950, is reduced on or after that date in consideration of any money, stock or security moving either to the lessor or to any other person, the instrument (in the subsequent subsections of this section referred to as the said instrument) on or after that date acknowledging the receipt of the consideration for the reduction (or, where the consideration is payable by instalments, of the instalment after payment of which the reduction becomes effective) or recording directly or indirectly that the rent has been reduced shall, notwithstanding anything in any other Act, be charged with the same stamp duty, and be subject to the provisions of the Stamp Act, 1891 (as amended by subsequent enactments), as if, instead of being such instrument, it were—
(a) a lease of lands, tenements or hereditaments which had been made in consideration of the rent reduced as aforesaid and the consideration for the reduction, and for an indefinite term, and under which the person beneficially entitled at the date of the taking effect of the reduction of the rent to the lessee's interest in the property out of which the rent so reduced issues was the lessee, or
(b) in the case specified in subsection (2) of this section, a lease such as is referred to in the foregoing paragraph and containing such a statement as is referred to in subsection (4) of section 24 of the Finance Act, 1949 (No. 13 of 1949).
(2) The case referred to in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section is that in which the said instrument contains a statement, by the person entitled at the date of the taking effect of the reduction of the rent to the beneficial interest in the lessee's interest in the property out of which the rent so reduced issues, that he is within one of the classes specified in paragraphs (a) to (f) of subsection (4) of section 24 of the Finance Act, 1949 , or, where two or more persons were so entitled, contains a statement by each of them such as aforesaid.
(3) (a) The said instrument, if executed before the passing of this Act, shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to have been first executed on the passing of this Act, and shall be charged with the stamp duty specified in subsection (1) of this section accordingly.
(b) the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection shall have effect in relation to the said instrument, if executed before the passing of this Act, notwithstanding that, before such passing, it may have been stamped with a particular stamp denoting either that it is not chargeable with any duty or is duly stamped.
(c) Notwithstanding any of the foregoing provisions of this subsection, the total stamp duty chargeable on the said instrument, if executed before the passing of this Act, shall not exceed the amount with which it would have been charged if it had in fact been executed after the passing of this Act.
(d) Where, at the expiration of thirty days after the passing of this Act, the said instrument, if executed before such passing, is not stamped with the stamp duty charged thereon by virtue of this Act, a sum equal to twice the unpaid stamp duty shall thereupon be a debt due to the Minister for Finance for the benefit of the Central Fund by the person beneficially entitled at the date of the taking effect of the reduction of the rent to the lessee's interest in the property out of which the rent so reduced issues or, where two or more persons were so entitled, by those persons jointly and severally, and the said sum shall be recoverable at the suit of the Attorney General in any court of competent jurisdiction.
(e) The Revenue Commissioners may, if they think fit, mitigate or remit any sum recoverable under the provisions of paragraph (d) of this subsection.
num: 18
paragraphs: —Stamp duty shall not be chargeable on any receipt given for any payment of a pension under the Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908 to 1948.
num: 19
paragraphs: —(1) Where, in the opinion of the Revenue Commissioners, any body of persons carrying on industrial assurance business so carries on that business as to render it impracticable or inexpedient to require that the stamp duties chargeable on policies issued by the body in the course of that business should be charged and paid thereon, the Revenue Commissioners may enter into an agreement with that body for the delivery to the Revenue Commissioners of periodical accounts giving such particulars as may be required of the policies so issued by the body.
(2) The agreement shall be in such form and shall contain such terms and conditions as the Revenue Commissioners think proper.
(3) Where an agreement has been entered into under this section between the Revenue Commissioners and any body of persons, any policy which, during the period for which the agreement is in force, is issued by that body in the course of its industrial assurance business and which contains a statement that the appropriate stamp duty has been or will be paid to the Revenue Commissioners in accordance with the provisions of this section, shall not be chargeable with any stamp duty, but in lieu thereof and by way of composition there shall be charged, in respect of the policies issued during the period to which any such account as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section relates, a stamp duty of an amount equal to the aggregate of the amounts of stamp duty which, but for the provisions of this section, would have been chargeable upon those policies, and the stamp duty chargeable under this subsection by way of such composition as aforesaid shall be paid by the body to the Revenue Commissioners on the delivery of the account.
(4) Where a body makes default in delivering any account required by any such agreement or in paying the duty payable on the delivery of any such account, the body shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds for every day during which the default continues and shall also be liable to pay, in addition to the duty, interest thereon, which shall be recoverable in the same manner as if it were part thereof, at the rate of five per cent. per annum from the date when the default begins.
(5) In this section, the expression “industrial assurance business” has the same meaning as in the Insurance Act, 1936 (No. 45 of 1936).
num: 20
paragraphs: —(1) In this section, the expressions “the Minister”, “the Account”, “foreign exchange” and “foreign security” and the words “gold” and “security” have the same meanings respectively as they have in section 49 of the Finance Act, 1941 (No. 14 of 1941).
(2) The Minister may invest any foreign exchange for the time being held for the credit of the Account by placing such exchange on interest-bearing deposit with a banking institution or purchasing securities which have been issued or guaranteed by the government of the country in which such exchange is held.
(3) Income arising from any investment under subsection (2) of this section shall be held for the credit of the Account.
(4) The Minister may, if he thinks proper, pay into the Account any sum received by him in respect of the net proceeds of any sale or disposal of any gold, foreign exchange or foreign security effected on his behalf or by his direction or authority in accordance with any provision made by or under statute.
(5) Each of the references in subsection (10) of section 49 of the Finance Act, 1941 , to the foregoing provisions of that section shall be construed as including a reference to the foregoing provisions of this section.
(6) Subsections (1) to (5) of this section shall be deemed to have come into operation on the establishment of the Account.
num: 21
paragraphs: —(1) The latest date for winding-up the Transition Development Fund shall be the 31st day of March, 1951, in lieu of the date, the 31st day of March, 1950, stipulated in section 29 of the Finance Act, 1949 (No. 13 of 1949).
(2) There shall be paid into the Transition Development Fund, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, in the financial year ending on the 31st day of March, 1951, a sum not exceeding two million pounds.
(3) Subsection (1) of this section shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 31st day of March, 1950.
num: 22
paragraphs: —(1) In this section—
the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Finance;
the expression “the Account” means the Capital Services Redemption Account established pursuant to subsection (2) of this section;
the expression “the annuity” means the sum charged on the Central Fund under subsection (3) of this section;
the expression “capital services” means voted services which are to be met out of borrowings.
(2) There shall be established an account under the control of the Minister to be known as the Capital Services Redemption Account.
(3) A sum of £655,432 to redeem borrowings, and interest thereon, in respect of capital services shall be charged annually on the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof in the thirty successive financial years commencing with the financial year ending on the 31st day of March, 1951.
(4) The annuity shall be paid into the Account in equal half-yearly instalments.
(5) Any amount of the annuity, not exceeding £423,979 in any financial year, may be applied towards defraying the interest on the public debt.
(6) The balance of the annuity shall be applied in any one or more of the following ways:
(a) application towards the purchase of government stock for cancellation,
(b) repayment of ways and means advances or other temporary borrowings of the Exchequer,
(c) payment into the Principal Reserve Account of the Savings Certificates Reserve Fund,
(d) application in any other way towards meeting the principal liability in respect of the public debt,
(e) investment in government securities or in any other manner in which moneys of the Post Office Savings Bank may be invested.
(7) Investments held for the Account may be sold or otherwise disposed of and the net proceeds of the sale or disposal shall be applied in any one or more of the ways specified in subsection (6) of this section.
(8) Income arising from any investment held for the Account shall be applied in any one or more of the ways specified in subsection (6) of this section.
(9) As soon as may be after each financial year, an account of the Account in respect of that year shall be prepared and shall be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General and laid by the Minister before each House of the Oireachtas.
num: 23
paragraphs: —With a view to providing moneys to meet general charges which will fall upon the Central Fund, the sum of three hundred thousand pounds shall be transferred and paid from the Road Fund to the Exchequer at such time or times in the financial year ending on the 31st day of March, 1951, and in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall direct.
num: 24
paragraphs: —All taxes and duties imposed by this Act are hereby placed under the care and management of the Revenue Commissioners.
num: 25
paragraphs: —(1) This Act may be cited as the Finance Act, 1950.
(2) Part I of this Act shall be construed together with the Income Tax Acts.
(3) Part II of this Act, so far as it relates to duties of customs, shall be construed together with the Customs Acts and, so far as it relates to duties of excise, shall be construed together with the Statutes which relate to the duties of excise and the management of those duties.
(4) Part VI of this Act shall be construed together with the Stamp Act, 1891, and the enactments amending or extending that Act.
(5) Part I of this Act shall be deemed to come into force on and shall take effect as on and from the 6th day of April, 1950.