Finance Act, 1976

Substitution of new schedules for First, Second, Third and Fourth Schedules (exempted activities and rates of tax) to Principal Act.

60.—The Principal Act is hereby amended by—

(a) the substitution for the First Schedule thereto of the Schedule contained in Part I of the Table to this section,

(b) the substitution for the Second Schedule thereto of the Schedule contained in Part II of the said Table,

(c) the substitution for the Third Schedule thereto of the Schedule contained in Part III of the said Table, and

(d) the substitution for the Fourth Schedule thereto of the Schedule contained in Part IV of the said Table.

TABLE

PART I

FIRST SCHEDULE

Exempted Activities

(i) Supply of stocks, shares and other securities;

(ii) supply of unused Irish postal, fiscal or social insurance stamps; or other stamps, coupons or tokens when supplied as things in action for a money consideration which is charged separately from the consideration for any goods or other services supplied in conjunction with the supply of such things in action and which is reasonable having regard to the exchange value of such things in action;

(iii) delivery of water by local authorities;

(iv) letting of immovable goods with the exception of—

(a) letting of machinery or business installations when let separately from any other immovable goods of which such machinery or installations form part,

(b) letting in the course of carrying on a hotel business, and

(c) provision of parking accommodation for vehicles by the operators of car parks;

(v) provision of board and lodging otherwise than in the course of carrying on a hotel business;

(vi) services provided by the State or by a local authority other than the construction, repair, maintenance and improvement of roads, harbours and sewerage works;

(vii) services given in return for wages and salaries in respect of which income tax is chargeable under Schedule E of the Income Tax Act, 1967 ;

(viii) professional services of a medical, dental, optical or educational nature other than services rendered in the course of carrying on a business which consists in whole or in part of selling goods;

(ix) services of a medical or educational nature rendered by hospitals, nursing homes, schools and similar establishments; and catering services rendered—

(a) to patients of a hospital or nursing home in the hospital or nursing home, and

(b) to students of a school in the school;

(x) services rendered in the course of their profession by solicitors, accountants, actuaries and veterinary surgeons;

(xi) services rendered in the course of their profession by barristers;

(xii) agency services in regard to—

(a) the arrangement of passenger transport or accommodation for persons,

(b) the delivery of goods sold by a house agent, or by an auctioneer in such circumstances that the goods are not regarded as delivered by the auctioneer,

(c) the collection of debts, rents or insurance premiums, and

(d) the rendering of other exempt services;

(xiii) banking and insurance services;

(xiv) lending money or affording credit otherwise than by means of hire-purchase or credit-sale transactions;

(xv) the national broadcasting and television services, excluding advertising;

(xvi) transport in the State of passengers and their accompanying baggage;

(xvii) betting;

(xviii) the issue of tickets or coupons for the purpose of a lottery;

(xix) admissions to zoological gardens;

(xx) the promotion of and admissions to sporting events and agricultural, commercial or industrial fairs, shows or exhibitions;

(xxi) the collection, storage and supply of human blood;

(xxii) funeral undertaking;

(xxiii) valuation services rendered by an auctioneer, house agent or chartered surveyor;

(xxiv) delivery of live horses;

(xxv) delivery of live greyhounds;

(xxvi) the natural or artificial insemination of livestock.

PART II

SECOND SCHEDULE

Goods and Services Chargeable at the Rate of Zero Per Cent.

(i) Goods delivered—

(a) outside the State, or

(b) inside the State but subject to a condition that they are to be transported directly by or on behalf of the person making the delivery—

(I) outside the State, or

(II) to a registered person within the customs-free airport;

(ii) services rendered outside the State;

(iii) the carriage of goods in the State by or on behalf of a person in execution of a contract to transfer the goods to or from a place outside the State;

(iv) the provision of docking, landing, loading or unloading facilities, including customs clearance, directly in connection with the disembarkation or embarkation of passengers or the importation or exportation of goods;

(v) goods delivered on board ships or aircraft going to places outside the State; and the repairing and servicing of ships and aircraft engaged in international commercial transport of passengers and goods;

(vi) fishing nets, and sections thereof, of a kind commonly used by commercial fishermen for the purposes of their occupation and not commonly used for any other purpose;

(vii) animal feeding stuff, excluding feeding stuff which is packaged, sold or otherwise designated for the use of dogs, cats, cage birds or domestic pets;

(viii) fertiliser (within the meaning of the Fertilisers, Feeding Stuffs and Mineral Mixtures Act, 1955 ) which is delivered in units of not less than 10 kilograms and the sale or manufacture for sale of which is not prohibited under section 4 or 6 of the said Act;

(ix) services provided by the Commissioners of Irish Lights in connection with the operation of lightships, lighthouses or other navigational aids;

(x) the construction, repair, maintenance and improvement of roads, harbours, and sewerage works by the State, local authorities or harbour authorities;

(xi) life saving services provided by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution including the organisation and maintenance of the lifeboat service;

(xii) food and drink of a kind used for human consumption, excluding food and drink specified in paragraph (xv) of the Third Schedule;

(xiii) medicine of a kind used for human oral consumption;

(xiv) medicine of a kind used for animal oral consumption, excluding medicine which is packaged, sold or otherwise designated for the use of dogs, cats, cage birds or domestic pets;

(xv) seeds, plants, trees, spores, bulbs, tubers, tuberous roots, corms, crowns and rhizomes, of a kind used for sowing in order to produce food;

(xvi) goods of different kinds which are packaged for sale as a unit (hereinafter in this paragraph referred to as the package) and in relation to which all the following conditions are satisfied—

(a) the package consists of goods in relation to the delivery of some of which for a separate consideration tax would be chargeable at the rate specified in section 11 (1) (d) and, in relation to the delivery of the remainder of which for a separate consideration, tax would be chargeable at the rate specified in section 11 (1) (e),

(b) the consideration for delivery is referable to the package as a whole and not to the different kinds of goods included therein, and

(c) the total tax-exclusive value of the goods included in the package, in relation to the delivery of which for a separate consideration tax would be chargeable at the rate specified in the said section 11 (1) (e), does not exceed 50 per cent. of the total tax-exclusive consideration for the package or 2½ pence, whichever is the lesser;

(xvii) articles of personal clothing, footwear and textile handkerchiefs, excluding articles of clothing made wholly or partly of fur skin other than garments merely trimmed with fur skin unless the trimming has an area greater than one-fifth of the area of the outside material;

(xviii) fabrics, yarn and thread of a kind normally used in the manufacture of clothing, including elastics, tape and padding materials in the form supplied for the manufacture of clothing;

(xix) sole and upper leather of a kind supplied for the manufacture and repair of footwear, and also soles, heels and insoles of any material;

(xx) (a) coal, peat and other solid substances held out for sale solely as fuel,

(b) gas of a kind used for domestic or industrial heating or lighting, whether in gaseous or liquid form, but not including gas of a kind normally used for welding and cutting metals or gas sold as lighter fuel,

(c) electricity,

(d) hydrocarbon oil of a kind used for domestic or industrial heating excluding gas oil (within the meaning of the Hydrocarbon Oil (Rebated Oil) Regulations, 1961 ) other than gas oil which has been duly marked in accordance with Regulation 6 (2) of the said Regulations.

PART III

THIRD SCHEDULE

PART I

Goods Chargeable at the Rate Specified in Section 11 (1) (a)

(i) Animal medicine excluding medicine—

(a) of a kind specified in paragraph (xiv) of the Second Schedule, or

(b) which is packaged, sold or otherwise designated for the use of dogs, cats, cage birds or domestic pets;

(ii) animal and vegetable produce in an unprocessed state, such as wool, horsehair, bristles, feathers, hides, skins, carcases, roots, plants and cereals;

(iii) fertiliser other than fertiliser of a kind specified in paragraph (viii) of the Second Schedule;

(iv) live animals, other than horses and greyhounds;

(v) machinery, plant or equipment of a kind commonly used by farmers or fishermen in the State for the purposes of their occupation and not commonly used for any other purpose;

(vi) seeds, plants, trees, spores, bulbs, tubers, tuberous roots, corms, crowns and rhizomes, of a kind used for sowing for a purpose other than the production of food;

(vii) printed books and booklets;

(viii) newspapers and periodicals;

(ix) maps, atlases and globes;

(x) materials commonly used in the construction of buildings (including haybarns, harbours, bridges and roads) being—

(a) blocks, beams, piles, pillars, posts, slabs, lintels, sills and members of concrete, whether reinforced or not,

(b) cement, concrete, lime, mortar, plaster, stone and bricks,

(c) dampcourse felts and other materials normally supplied as dampcourses,

(d) earth, sand and gravel,

(e) floor and wall tiles of concrete or clay,

(f) flue liners and chimney pots,

(g) glass in the sheet, but not including mirrors,

(h) insulation material in the form of sheets, slabs or rolls,

(i) nails, screws, bolts, nuts, hinges, locks, fasteners; and fittings for doors, windows, tubing and gutters,

(j) paint and distemper

(k) plaster board,

(l) polyethylene film of a kind commonly used by builders or farmers for the purposes of their occupation,

(m) roofing felts and semi-solid substances used as a substitute for roofing felts,

(n) roofing tiles, including ridge and hip tiles and slates,

(o) sheets of metal or of other material, other than glass, not further worked than painted, sprayed or similarly finished,

(p) steel or aluminium in the form of angles, tees, joists, channels, bars, wire, extrusions or plate, not further worked than galvanised, sprayed or similarly finished,

(q) tar, asphalt, bitumen and pitch,

(r) timber, including plywood, blockboard, laminated wood, reconstituted wood and wood veneer sold in the form of planks, sheets or beams and not further worked than sawn lengthwise, planed, moulded, tongued, grooved or v-sheeted,

(s) tubing and gutters of metal, clay, cement, rubber, plastic or similar material of a kind normally supplied for structural purposes or for use as a conduit for cable, liquids, steam, gases or sewage;

(xi) goods (other than hand tools) of any of the following descriptions namely:

(a) lifting, handling, loading or unloading machinery (for example, lifts, hoists, winches, transporter cranes, jacks and pulley tackle),

(b) excavating, levelling, boring and extracting machinery for earth, minerals or ores (for example, bulldozers, mechanical shovels, excavators, scrapers, levellers and turf cutters),

(c) machines designed, constructed and intended for use in spreading or finishing asphalt, bitumen, tar, tarmacadam or concrete,

(d) works trucks that are mechanically propelled and are of the kind used in factories or warehouses for the transport or handling of goods over short distances, and

(e) equipment and parts that are specially designed for use with any of the goods specified in subparagraphs (a) to (d) and are of a kind not normally used for any other purpose;

(xii) immovable goods;

(xiii) chemicals which are specifically designated for use in agriculture, being seed dressings, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, rodenticides, verminicides, soil sterilants, growth regulators, disinfectants or dairy detergents, but excluding chemicals which are packaged, sold or otherwise designated for human or domestic use;

(xiv) calculating machines, accounting machines, cash registers, postage franking machines and similar machines incorporating a calculating device, automatic data processing machines and units thereof, magnetic and optical readers, machines for transcribing data onto data media in coded form and machines for processing such data, parts suitable for use solely or principally with any of the machines specified in this paragraph;

(xv) food and drink for human consumption of the following descriptions, that is to say—

(a) beverages chargeable with any duty of excise specifically charged on spirits, beer, wine, cider, perry or Irish wine, and preparations thereof,

(b) other manufactured beverages, including fruit juices and bottled waters, and syrups, concentrates, essences, powders, crystals or other products for the preparation of beverages, but excluding—

(I) tea and preparations thereof,

(II) cocoa, coffee and chicory and other roasted coffee substitutes, and preparations and extracts thereof, or

(III) preparations and extracts of meat, yeast, egg or milk,

(c) ice cream, ice lollipops, water ices and similar frozen products, and prepared mixes and powders for making such products,

(d) (I) chocolates, sweets and similar confectionery (including drained, glacé or crystallised fruits), biscuits, crackers and wafers of all kinds, and all other confectionery and bakery products excluding bread,

(II) in this subparagraph “bread” means food for human consumption manufactured by baking dough composed exclusively of a mixture of cereal flour and any one or more of the ingredients mentioned in the following subclauses in quantities not exceeding the limitation, if any, specified for each ingredient—

(1) yeast or other leavening or aerating agent, salt, malt extract, milk, water, gluten,

(2) fat, sugar and bread improver, subject to the limitation that the weight of any ingredient specified in this subclause shall not exceed 2 per cent. of the weight of flour included in the dough,

(3) dried fruit, subject to the limitation that the weight thereof shall not exceed 10 per cent. of the weight of flour included in the dough,

other than food packaged for sale as a unit (not being a unit designated as containing only food specifically for babies) containing two or more slices, segments, sections or other similar pieces, having a crust over substantially the whole of their outside surfaces, being a crust formed in the course of baking or toasting, and

(e) any of the following when supplied for human consumption without further preparation, namely, potato crisps, potato sticks, potato chips, potato puffs and similar products made from potato, or from potato flour or from potato starch, popcorn, and salted or roasted nuts whether or not in shells;

(xvi) medicines for human use other than by oral consumption, excluding goods which are, or are described or marketed as, soaps, shampoos, detergents, bleaches, germicides, insecticides, antiseptics or disinfectants;

(xvii) medical equipment and appliances being—

(a) apparatus based on the use of x-rays or of the radiations from radio-active substances (including radiography and radiotherapy apparatus),

(b) furniture designed exclusively for medical, dental, surgical or veterinary use (for example, operating tables and hospital beds with mechanical fittings),

(c) invalid carriages, and other vehicles of a kind designed for use by invalids or infirm persons,

(d) mechano-therapy appliances, massage apparatus, oxygen therapy apparatus, artificial respiration and similar apparatus and breathing appliances, excluding articles of a kind not designed exclusively for medical use,

(e) medical, dental, surgical and veterinary instruments and appliances of a kind used solely in professional practice either to make a diagnosis or to prevent or treat an illness or to operate,

(f) orthopaedic appliances, surgical belts, trusses and the like, artificial limbs, eyes, teeth and other artificial parts of the body, deaf aids, splints and other fracture appliances,

(g) parts or accessories suitable for use solely or principally with any of the goods specified in subparagraphs (a) to (f),

(h) diagnostic reagents,

(i) x-ray film, and opacifying preparations for x-ray examinations,

(j) wadding, gauze, bandages and similar goods (for example, dressings, adhesive plasters, poultices) and surgical sutures;

(xviii) railway rolling stock and parts thereof, railway and tramway track fixtures, traffic signalling equipment (including fog signals), railway and tramway track construction materials of iron or steel, including rails, check-rails, switch blades, crossings (or frogs), crossing pieces, point rods, rack rails, sleepers, fish plates, chairs, chair wedges, sole plates, rail chips, bedplates and ties;

(xix) mechanically propelled road vehicles, other than vehicles of a kind specified in Part I of the Fourth Schedule;

(xx) trailers (excluding caravans, mobile homes and trailer tents);

(xxi) ships, boats and other vessels excluding—

(a) ships, boats and other vessels designed and constructed for the conveyance of passengers and not exceeding one hundred tons gross, and

(b) sports and pleasure craft of all descriptions including yachts, cabin cruisers, dinghies, canoes, skiffs and racing boats;

(xxii) tobacco;

(xxiii) fuel, other than fuel of a kind specified in paragraph (xx) of the Second Schedule;

(xxiv) hydrocarbon oil (including greases), other than hydrocarbon oil of a kind specified in paragraph (xx) of the Second Schedule;

(xxv) tyres, tyre cases, interchangeable tyre treads, inner tubes and tyre flaps, for wheels of all kinds;

(xxvi) spare parts for goods of a kind specified in paragraphs (v) and (xx) and for mechanically propelled road vehicles, bicycles and boats;

(xxvii) bodies and chassis designed for mechanically propelled road vehicles other than for motor vehicles of a kind specified in Part I of the Fourth Schedule;

(xxviii) second-hand movable goods, other than goods of a kind specified in the Second Schedule or the Fourth Schedule;

(xxix) goods of different kinds which are packaged for sale as a unit (hereinafter in this paragraph referred to as the package) and in relation to which all the following conditions are satisfied:

(a) the package consists of goods in relation to the delivery of some of which for a separate consideration tax would be chargeable at the rate specified in section 11 (1) (a) and, in relation to the delivery of the remainder of which for such a consideration, tax would be chargeable at any other rate or rates,

(b) the consideration for delivery is referable to the package as a whole and not to the different kinds of goods included therein, and

(c) the total tax-exclusive value of the goods included in the package, in relation to the delivery of which for a separate consideration or separate considerations tax would be chargeable at a rate or rates other than the rate specified in the said section 11 (1) (a), does not exceed 50 per cent. of the total tax-exclusive consideration for the package or 2½ pence, whichever is the lesser.

PART II

Services Chargeable at the Rate Specified in Section 11 (1) (a)

(i) Services other than the hiring or letting of goods;

(ii) the hiring (in this paragraph referred to as the current hiring) to a person of—

(a) goods of a kind described in subparagraph (a) or (b) of paragraph (xxi) of Part I of this Schedule, or

(b) a caravan, mobile home or trailer tent,

under an agreement, other than an agreement of the kind referred to in section 3 (1) (b), for any term or part of a term which, when added to the term of any such hiring (whether of the same goods or of other goods of the same kind) to the same person during the period of 12 months ending on the date of the commencement of the current hiring, does not exceed 5 weeks;

(iii) the hiring of goods of a kind on the delivery of which, if paragraph (xxviii) of Part I of this Schedule were disregarded, tax would be chargeable at the rate specified in section 11 (1) (a);

(iv) the hiring of goods of a kind specified in the Fourth Schedule;

(v) the hiring of cinematograph films;

(vi) the letting of immovable goods;

(vii) the hiring to a person under an agreement in writing, other than an agreement of the kind referred to in section 3 (1) (b), entered into before the 24th day of October, 1972, of movable goods in the possession of the person on the 1st day of November, 1972, of a kind on the delivery of which, if paragraph (xxviii) of Part I of this Schedule were disregarded, tax would be chargeable at the rate specified in section 11 (1) (e);

(viii) the hiring of goods of a kind specified in paragraph (xvii) of the Second Schedule.

PART IV

FOURTH SCHEDULE

PART I

Goods Chargeable at the Rate Specified in Section 11 (1) (c) (i)

Motor vehicles designed and constructed for the conveyance of persons by road, and sports motor vehicles, estate cars, station wagons, motor cycles, motor scooters, mopeds and auto cycles, whether or not designed and constructed for the purpose aforesaid, excluding vehicles designed and constructed for the carriage of more than sixteen persons (inclusive of the driver), invalids carriages and other vehicles of a type designed for use by invalids or infirm persons.

PART II

Goods Chargeable at the Rate Specified in Section 11 (1) (c) (ii)

(i) Radio receiving sets and television receiving sets which are of the domestic or portable type or which are of a kind suitable for use in road vehicles;

(ii) gramophones, radiogramophones, record reproducers;

(iii) gramophone records.