Select Committee on Finance and General Affairs debate -
Wednesday, 26 May 1993

SECTION 76.

Mr. B. Ahern

I move amendment No. 136:

In page 100, to delete lines 12 and 13 and substitute the following:

"(iv) in the proviso to the subsection, by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (ii):

‘(ii) the provisions of this subsection shall not apply to a supply of the kind referred to in subsection (2).'.".

As outlined in the explanatory memorandum, section 76 amends section 8 of the VAT Act to remove the £15,000 threshold which currently applies in respect of certain services received from abroad, for example, consultancy, advertising and so on. A person in receipt of such services is to be treated as a taxable person regardless of the value of such services.

This amendment is being made in order to remove a possible ambiguity in the legal taxt, which could be interpreted as meaning that the threshold might continue to apply in certain circumstances, for example, in the case of traders whose supplies of services in the State do not exceed £15,000.

Mr. Cox

I do not know whether it is the hour of the day — as we have been dealing with the Bill for several hours — but would the Minister like to give us the plain English version of his explanation.

Mr. B. Ahern

The amendment is to remove any doubt in the legal text which could be interpreted as meaning that the threshold might continue to apply in certain circumstances. We are talking about traders whose supplies of services in the State do not exceed £15,000. Section 76 amends section 8 of the VAT Act and removes the 15 per cent threshold which currently applies in respect of certain services received from abroad. A person in receipt of such services is to be treated as a taxable person regardless of the value of such services. That was contained in the Act. We are removing the doubt following representations by individuals that the text could be interpreted to their disadvantage.

Amendment agreed to.

Section 76, as amended agreed to.

Section 77 agreed to.