Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 107:

In page 130, between lines 16 and 17, to insert the following: “(g) in section 128A—

(i) in subsection (1), by the insertion of the following definitions:

“ ‘relevant person’ means—

(a) an accountable person, or

(b) a person that is required to deliver a statement to the Commissioners under Part 9;

‘return’ means—

(a) an electronic return,

(b) a paper return, or

(c) any statement that is required to be delivered to the Commissioners under Part 9.”,

(ii) in subsection (2)—

(I) by the substitution of “relevant person” for “accountable person”, and

(II) in paragraph (a), by the deletion of “or statement”,

and

(iii) in subsection (4)(a), by the substitution of “a return” for “an electronic return or a paper return”,”.

Amendments Nos. 107 and 108 seek to correct an oversight which occurred when drafting section 60. If this error is not corrected it would impact on Revenue’s ability to ensure compliance by taxpayers in respect of new electronic statements being introduced for the banking and insurance stamp duties.

Sections 58, 59 and 60 of the Bill provide for the introduction of a streamlined and modernised system for the collection of banking and insurance-related stamp duties under Part 9 of the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999.

Section 58 deals with the modernisation of banking stamp duty. Section 59 deals with the modernisation of insurance stamp duties and section 60 updates the compliance enforcement legislation that relates to these stamp duties. As part of the modernisation programme, the legislation includes the provision for a move from written to electronic statements of stamp duty, as well as an amendment to bring Part 9 of the Act fully within the scope of the compliance provisions which already to apply to other parts of the Act.

As drafted, the legislation did not address the issue of retention of records by taxpayers and the audit of these records, where they related to new electronic statements for banking and insurance stamp duties. To address this, the new provisions inserted by these two amendments ensure taxpayers will have an obligation to maintain records on the new electronic statements being introduced for banking and insurance stamp duties and that Revenue will have the power, under section 128B, to inspect the records related to these statements.