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GAZETTE

SEPTEMBER 1993

dismissal claim, payment over of

monies awarded by the Employment

Appeals Tribunal or by a Court or an ex

gratia redundancy payment. No such

guidance is available here.

The Unfair Dismissals Act has exercised

practitioners more than any other aspect

of employment law. Dr. Forde's

treatment of the Act is disappointing,

consisting of a mere ten pages although

the topic is touched on throughout the

book. His specific treatment is untidy

and lacks proper construction as does his

treatment of redundancy in relation to

which the publishers might like to

correct an unfortunate mistake in the

formula given for calculation of

statutory redundancy entitlement.

In addition to the chapters mentioned,

there is a chapter on Transnational

Employment and an Appendix

containing a precedent for standard

terms and conditions of employment

and an executive employment

agreement. Unfortunately neither is

fully explained in which event I fear

adoption of them as precedents may

lead to all sorts of difficulty. Finally,

there is an Appendix consisting of

Statutes and Regulations and extracts

therefrom which will be very useful.

This book is a curate's egg. It is worth

having for the topics that are well

treated and unavailable elsewhere but

overall it is disappointing.

Gary Byrne

Tax Guide 1992-1993 and

Tax Acts 1992-1993

Butterworths (Ireland) 1993. Tax

Guide edited by

Susan Keegan

, 953 pp

softback £43.00. Tax Acts edited by

Alan Moore

, 2154 pp, softback, £53.00.

Until the introduction of capital taxation

in the early 1970s the prevailing view

within the legal profession was that if

any business client wished to seek

advice in relation to tax law then that

client was best served by getting in

touch with one of the major firms in

Dublin. However, with the introduction

of capital taxation in the mid 1970s the

necessity for every practitioner to

acquaint himself with the implications of

I At the launch of Butterworth (Ireland) Tax Acts, 1992/93 and Butterworth (Ireland) Tax

Guide 1992/93 were l-r: Gerard Coakley, General Manager and Paul Brown, Managing

Director of Butterworth (Ireland) with Dr. Miriam Herderman O 'Brien, Chairperson of

the Foundationfor Fiscal Studies at Trinity College Dublin, who launched the books.

the new Capital Acquisitions Tax

legislation became an integral part of

legal studies and ongoing legal educa-

I tion. Today there are very few legal

transactions that do not incur a possible

tax liability of one kind or another,

consequently the need for solicitors to

keep themselves abreast with develop-

ments in tax law such as legislation

repeals as enacted by every Finance Act

is an integral part of legal practice today,

j For that reason, two books published in

I this field will be of assistance and they

are the Butterworths Tax Acts

1992-1993 and Tax Guide 1992-1993.

The Tax Acts 1992-1993 is without

doubt a very welcome publication and it

quite clearly sets out all the relevant

taxation legislation commencing with

the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act,

1927, the Finance Act, 1928 and then

proceeding to the Income Tax Act, 1967

and each succeeding piece of legislation

that affects taxation. The inclusion of

the Interpretation Act, 1937 is of great

assistance.

I For the first time a practitioner can now

have readily available all the relevant

taxation legislation that affects every

j

aspect of his practice from day to day.

i This is particularly relevant to the rural

practitioner who will no longer find it

necessary to have to get in touch with

his own accountant in order to properly

advise his client.

j

It is also necessary for the practitioner

to have to hand the Tax Guide

1922-1993. This publication deals with

1

Income Tax, Corporation Tax, Capital

Gains Tax, Capital Acquisitions Tax,

Value Added Tax, Stamp Duties,

Residential Property Tax, and

Employers' PAYE/PRSI. Any informa-

tion that the practitioner needs to know

about tax is contained in this Guide. The

setting out of rates and allowances at

the beginning of the Tax Guide is

welcome, though it is a pity that these

are not listed in the contents. Nonethe-

less, for the first time, the practitioner

has easy access to all the relevant tables

in relation to rates, allowances etc., not

only in respect of Income Tax but also

PRSI rates, Corporation Tax rates,

Capital Tax rates, Capital Gains Tax

indexation factor from 1982 to 1993,

Capital Acquisitions Tax rates, and in

particular the rates in relation to taxable

gifts and taxable inheritances.

j The examples given in the computation

section of the Income Tax chapter are

very easy to follow and it will most

certainly help the practitioner to advise

his clients in relation to straightforward

income tax queries. It will also enable

the practitioner to obtain the necessary

information if further research is needed

in order to properly advise the client as

to his potential tax liabilities.

i Aside from the few typographical errors

| which are contained in both books,

Butterworths are most certainly to be

congratulated on their initiative in

publishing both these publications as

they are, I believe, essential to every

practice and a most worthwhile addition

to the library.

i

Ciaran Keys

270