Finance (No. 3) Act 2011
Acts of the Oireachtas
Source: Acts of the Oireachtas

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paragraphs: — (1) The Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 is amended by inserting the following Parts after Part 44:
“PART 44A
Tax Treatment of Civil Partnerships
Chapter 1
Income Tax
Interpretation (Chapter 1).
1031A.— (1) In this Chapter―
‘inspector’, in relation to a notice, means any inspector who might reasonably be considered by the individual giving notice to be likely to be concerned with the subject matter of the notice or who declares himself or herself ready to accept the notice;
‘nominated civil partner’, in relation to a civil partnership, means the civil partner who is nominated for the purposes of this Chapter in accordance with section 1031D;
‘other civil partner’, in relation to a civil partnership, means the civil partner who is not the nominated civil partner.
(2) A civil partner shall be treated for income tax purposes as living with his or her civil partner unless they are in fact living separately and apart in circumstances where reconciliation is unlikely.
(3) (a) In this Chapter, references to the income of the other civil partner include references to any sum which apart from this Chapter would be included in computing that civil partner’s total income, and this Chapter shall apply in relation to any such sum notwithstanding that an enactment (including, except in so far as the contrary is expressly provided, an enactment passed after 1 January 2011) requires that that sum should not be treated as income of any individual other than that civil partner.
(b) In the Income Tax Acts, a reference to an individual who has duly elected to be assessed to tax in accordance with a particular section includes a reference to an individual who is deemed to have elected to be assessed to tax in accordance with that section, and any reference to an individual who is assessed to tax in accordance with section 1031C for a year of assessment includes a reference to a case where the individual and his or her civil partner are assessed to tax for that year in accordance with section 1031H.
(4) Any notice required to be served under any section in this Chapter may be served by post.
Assessment as single persons.
1031B.— (1) Subject to subsection (2), in any case in which civil partners are treated as living together, income tax shall be assessed, charged and recovered, except as is otherwise provided by the Income Tax Acts, on the income of each civil partner as if they were not in a civil partnership.
(2) Where an election under section 1031D has effect in relation to 2 individuals who are civil partners of each other for a year of assessment, this section shall not apply in relation to those civil partners for that year of assessment.
Assessment of nominated civil partner in respect of income of both civil partners.
1031C.— (1) Where an election under section 1031D to be assessed to tax in accordance with this section has effect for a year of assessment—
(a) the nominated civil partner shall be assessed and charged to income tax, not only in respect of his or her total income (if any) for that year but also in respect of the other civil partner’s total income (if any) for any part of that year of assessment during which they are living together, and for those purposes and for the purposes of the Income Tax Acts, that last-mentioned income shall be deemed to be the income of the nominated civil partner,
(b) the question of whether there is any income of the other civil partner chargeable to tax for any year of assessment and, if so, what is to be taken to be the amount of that income for tax purposes shall not be affected by this section, and
(c) any tax to be assessed in respect of any income which under this section is deemed to be income of the nominated civil partner shall, instead of being assessed on the other civil partner, or on his or her trustees, guardian or committee, or on his or her executors or administrators, be assessable on the nominated civil partner or, in the appropriate cases, on his or her executors or administrators.
(2) Any relief from income tax authorised by any provision of the Income Tax Acts to be granted to the nominated civil partner by reference to the income or profits or gains or losses of the other civil partner or by reference to any payment made by the other civil partner shall be granted to the nominated civil partner for a year of assessment only if the nominated civil partner is assessed to tax for that year in accordance with this section.
Election for assessment under section 1031C.
1031D.— (1) (a) An individual and his or her civil partner who are living together may, at any time during a year of assessment, by notice in writing given to the inspector, jointly―
(i) elect to be assessed to income tax for that year of assessment in accordance with section 1031C, and
(ii) nominate which of them is to be the nominated civil partner for the purposes of this Chapter.
(b) If the notice under paragraph (a) does not nominate one of the civil partners to be the nominated civil partner, the Revenue Commissioners shall deem one of the civil partners to be the nominated civil partner.
(c) Where an election is made under paragraph (a), the income of the nominated civil partner and the income of the other civil partner shall be assessed to tax for that year in accordance with section 1031C.
(2) Where an election is made under subsection (1) for a year of assessment, the election shall have effect for that year and for each subsequent year of assessment.
(3) Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (2), either civil partner may, for a year of assessment, by notice in writing given to the inspector before the end of the year, withdraw the election for that year and, on the giving of that notice, the election shall not have effect for that year or for any subsequent year of assessment.
(4) (a) Where an individual and his or her civil partner are living together and an election under subsection (1) has not been made by them for a year of assessment (or for any prior year of assessment), the civil partners shall be deemed to have duly elected to be assessed to tax in accordance with section 1031C for that year and the Revenue Commissioners shall deem one of the civil partners to be the nominated civil partner, unless before the end of that year either of them gives notice in writing to the inspector that he or she wishes to be assessed to tax for that year as a single person in accordance with section 1031B.
(b) Where a civil partner has duly given notice under paragraph (a), that paragraph shall not apply in relation to the civil partners concerned for the year of assessment for which the notice was given or for any subsequent year of assessment until the year of assessment in which the notice is withdrawn, by the civil partner who gave it, by further notice in writing to the inspector.
Special provisions relating to year of registration of civil partnership.
1031E.— (1) In this section—
‘income tax month’ means a calendar month;
‘year of registration’, in relation to 2 individuals who are civil partners of each other, means—
(a) in the case of civil partners whose civil partnership was registered in the State, the year of assessment in which their civil partnership was registered, and
(b) in the case of civil partners whose legal relationship, entered into in another jurisdiction, is recognised pursuant to an order made under section 5 of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 , the year of assessment in which falls the day on which, by virtue of subsection (2) of that section, the civil partners are to be treated as civil partners under the law of the State,
and ‘registered’ in relation to a civil partnership shall be construed accordingly.
(2) Section 1031D shall not apply in relation to civil partners for the year of registration.
(3) Where, on making a claim in that behalf, 2 individuals who are civil partners of each other prove that the amount equal to the aggregate of the income tax paid and payable by each of them on his or her total income for the year of registration is in excess of the income tax which would have been payable by one of the civil partners on his or her total income and the total income of his or her civil partner for the year of registration if—
(a) the civil partner had been charged to income tax as the nominated civil partner for the year of registration in accordance with section 1031C, and
(b) the civil partners had been civil partners of each other throughout the year of registration,
they shall be entitled, subject to subsection (4), to repayment of income tax of an amount determined by the formula—
A x B
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where—
A is the amount of the excess, and
B is the number of income tax months in the period between the date on which the civil partnership was registered and the end of the year of registration, part of an income tax month being treated for this purpose as an income tax month in a case where the period consists of part of an income tax month or of one or more income tax months and part of an income tax month.
(4) Any repayment of income tax under subsection (3) shall be allocated to the civil partners concerned in proportion to the amounts of income tax paid and payable by them, having regard to subsection (2), on their respective total incomes for the year of registration.
(5) Any claim for a repayment of income tax under subsection (3) shall be made in writing to the inspector after the end of the year of registration and shall be made by both civil partners concerned jointly.
(6) (a) Subsections (1) and (2) of section 459 and section 460 shall apply to a repayment of income tax under this section as they apply to any allowance, deduction, relief or reduction under the provisions specified in the Table to section 458.
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paragraphs: — (1) In each provision of the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 set out in column (2) of Schedule 2 —
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paragraphs: — (1) In each provision of the Capital Acquisitions Tax Consolidation Act 2003 set out in column (2) of Schedule 3 —
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paragraphs: — (1) In the provision of the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010 set out in column (2) of Schedule 4 the words in that provision which are set out in column (3) of that Schedule are to be deleted and the words which are set out opposite the entry in column (4) of that Schedule are to be inserted.
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paragraphs: — (1) This Act may be cited as the Finance (No. 3) Act 2011.