Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 3:

In page 10, to delete lines 37 to 39 and substitute the following:"behalf, proves that in the years of assessment, he or she has made payments to a qualifying contractor or a number of qualifying contractors in respect of qualifying expenditure to which this section applies, incurred over the years of assessment as set out in subsection (2) of this section, the income tax".

I do not intend to move amendment No. 4 and I ask the Minister of State to keep his comments to amendment No. 3.

Amendment No. 3 arises from a discussion we had on Committee Stage. Reading the Bill, it was not clear that one could incur the €5,000 which would have to be spent on a number of contractors over the entire qualification period, which stems from 25 October 2013 until 2015 in certain circumstances. The Minister stated that this was covered in section 477B(3)(a) as inserted by section 5, but I do not see where. Even if it does, there is an argument about what the individual must prove. According to section 477B(3)(a) as inserted by section 5, "Subject to the provisions of this section, where an individual (in this section referred to as 'the claimant'), on making a claim in that behalf, proves that in a year of assessment he or she has made a payment or payments to a qualifying contractor in respect of qualifying expenditure to which this section applies". With regard to making a claim, paragraph (d) of the same section, on page 11 of the Bill, states that the expenditure must be greater than €5,000. For me, the phrase "year of assessment" is key. In my view "year of assessment" is singular, and we had a debate on Committee Stage on "singular" meaning other things. One cannot make a claim unless one has spent €5,000 and one must prove in a year of assessment that one has made payments. The interpretation is that one could pay €3,000 in one year of assessment and in another year of assessment one could pay another €3,000, which, combined, is above the €5,000 threshold. This raises the question of whether one must prove in both years of assessment one has made a claim or whether one must prove it in a year of assessment.

I welcome the Minister's clarification that we can aggregate all of the spend over the entire qualification period, which spans four calendar years in certain circumstances, but I do not think it is clear. This is why I have tabled the amendment, which would insert "proves that in the years of assessment, he or she has made payments". One would have to prove not only that one spent €3,000 that year but also €3,000 another year. The amendment also states that these payments are to be made "to a qualifying contractor or a number of qualifying contractors in respect of qualifying expenditure to which this section applies, incurred over the years of assessment as set out in subsection (2) of this section". These are the criteria whereby one can avail of this until 31 December 2015, and beyond it in certain circumstances.

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