Finance Act, 1991

Special allowance for widowed parent following death of spouse.

4.—(1) (a) This section applies to an individual whose spouse dies in a year of assessment, being the year 1988-89 or any subsequent year of assessment (hereafter in this section referred to as “a claimant”).

(b) For the purposes of this section “a qualifying child”, in relation to a claimant and a year of assessment, has the meaning assigned to it by subsection (1) (b) of section 138A (inserted by the Finance Act, 1985 ) of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , and the question of whether a child is a qualifying child shall be determined on the same basis as it would be for the purposes of the said section 138A, and the provisions of subsections (3), (4), (6) and (7) of that section shall apply accordingly.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, where a claimant proves, in relation to any of the three years of assessment next immediately following the year of assessment in which his spouse dies, that—

(a) he has not remarried before the commencement of the year, and

(b) a qualifying child is resident with him for the whole or part of the year,

he shall, in respect of each of the years in relation to which he so proves, be entitled, in computing the amount of his taxable income, to have a deduction made from his total income as follows—

(i) for the first of the said three years, £1,500,

(ii) for the second of the said three years, £1,000, and

(iii) for the third of the said three years, £500:

Provided that this section shall not apply for any year of assessment in the case of a man and woman who are living together as man and wife.

(3) All such provisions of the Income Tax Acts as apply in relation to the deductions specified in sections 138 to 143 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , shall apply in relation to a deduction under this section.

(4) This section shall apply and have effect as respects the year 1991-92 and subsequent years of assessment.