Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Question 127: To ask the Minister for Finance when the exemption for family partnerships in farming from capital gains tax as announced in budget 2008 will come into effect. [23884/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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This exemption came into effect on the enactment of the Finance Act 2008 on 13 March 2008.

Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 128: To ask the Minister for Finance the guidelines relating to charitable donations made by self employed workers and by PAYE workers; the amounts involved in each category for 2006 and 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23896/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The operation of the scheme for tax relief on donations to eligible charities and other approved bodies is governed by the provisions of section 848A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997.

To avail of the donations scheme, a charity must be specifically authorised by Revenue for the purposes of the scheme. Other bodies, including schools, colleges, universities, bodies approved for education in the arts as well as a number of other specified organisations are defined as approved bodies for the purposes of the scheme by virtue of schedule 26A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. The list of those charities which are approved for the purposes of the donations scheme is available on the Revenue website at www.revenue.ie.

Tax relief applies to donations which:

Are €250 or greater in one year

Are in the form of money or publicly quoted securities, or a combination of money and such securities

Are not repayable

Do not confer a benefit on the donor or any person connected with the donor, and

Are not conditional on, or associated with, any arrangement involving the acquisition of property by the charity or approved body.

The full details of the terms and conditions of the scheme are available in Leaflet CHY 2 which can also be accessed on the Revenue website.

The precise arrangements for allowing tax relief on donations depends on whether the donor is a PAYE taxpayer, a person who is subject to self-assessment or a company. For a PAYE donor, the relief is given on a "grossed up" basis to the eligible charity or approved body, as the case may be, rather than by way of a separate claim to tax relief by the donor. In this instance the claim for refund is made to Revenue by the eligible charity or approved body.

In the case of a self-assessed donor, that individual claims the relief and there is no grossing up arrangement. In the case of a company, it will claim a deduction for the donation as if it were a trading expense.

The following table sets out the refunds of tax made by Revenue to Charities and Approved Bodies relating to qualifying donations made by individual PAYE donors only for 2006 and 2007:

The most recent year for which detailed statistical data is available on donations to Charities and Approved Bodies by self-assessed donors, is 2005. Preliminary information available for that year indicates that self-assessed donors donated approximately €48 million and claimed tax relief of approximately €18 million.