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(d) Alteration of the time for payment of tax by full-time
farmers. It will henceforth be January 1st in the
relevant year of assessment.
The Minister did not indicate in his budget speech
whether he proposed to introduce marginal relief. Section
13 of the Finance Act, 1978, provides marginal relief for
farmers the rateable valuation of whose land is in the
valuation range £60-£69. At £60 rateable valuation the
tax charge will be one tenth of the full tax, at £61 two-
tenths, and so on until the full charge comes into
operation at £69. Section 13 also provides that if a
farmer's rates in a previous local financial year exceed his
tax bill he will not thereby be able to claim a tax refund.
This restricts the rates relief quite considerably.
As far as the national system is concerned two things
can be deducted from farm profits for tax purposes:—
(a) Wages paid to "permanent employees" in working
the farm land. "Permanent employees" are
employees whose emoluments are subject to
P.A.Y.E. and in respect of which the farmer pays
social welfare contributions.
(b) Amounts paid to agricultural contractors in respect
of agricultural work carried on by them on farm land.
The term "agricultural contractor" is defined in the
Act as "A person who carries on agricultural work
on farm land". The term "agricultural work" is
defined in the Act as "Work which forms an integral
part of the cultivation of farm land or the harvesting
of the produce of such land".
Agricultural and Fishery Co-operatives: The
exemption from Corporation Tax which was enjoyed by
these societies prior to 1976 is restored. However sales to
the E.E.C. Intervention Agency will not be exempted.
Interest on Overdue Tax
Interest payable (either by the taxpayer or the
Revenue) on overdue tax is reduced from 1.5% per month
(18% p.a.) to 1.25% per month (15% p.a.) by Section 44
of the Finance Act, 1978.
Capital Acquisitions Tax
The exempt thresholds other than the £50,000 for
spouses and children are doubled. Section 42 increases as
from and including this year the annual exemption for
small gifts from £250 to £500. Section 37 exempts from
Capital Acquisitions Tax houses and gardens which are
shown to be of national, scientific, historic or artistic
interest if certain conditions are fulfilled. Amongst these
conditions is the provision of reasonable facilities for
viewing to members of the public.
Wealth Tax
Wealth Tax has been abolished with effect from 5th
April, 1978.
Capital Gains Tax
Separate legislation is to be introduced in order to bring
into operation the changes announced by the Minister for
Finance in his budget speech. The Minister has
announced that:—
(a) The rate of capital gains tax is to be increased with
effect from 6th April, 1978.
(b) The 30% rate is to taper to nil in three year steps over
a 21 year period from the date of acquisition of the
asset. This tapering relief will not apply to shares and
land with a development potential.
(c) An inflation adjustment by reference to the consumer
price index is to be made in all cases. This will, of
course, reduce the amount of the gain which will bear
tax and will ensure that only real rather than
inflationery gains will be subject to capital gains tax.
BOOK REVIEWS
KERR on the Law and Practice as to Receivers, 15th
Edition by Raymond Walton, M.A., B.C.L. 1978
Sweet & Maxwell, p.p. 385.
Most practitioners, when the word "Receiver" is
mentioned in their presence, think, primarily, of
Receivers appointed over the assets of a company by a
debenture holder. A practitioner who becomes involved
with a company Receivership, in this sense, whether
advising a Receiver or representing clients who are in
confrontation with him, needs to know his way round the
fairly complex problems that arise, and, perhaps
unfortunately, a comparatively small number of Irish
Solicitors seem to have taken the trouble to become
experienced in this exceptionally interesting field of legal
practice.
The practitioner who wishes to acquire expertise on the
subject of Receiverships and Receivers will be tempted by
the title "Kerr on Receivers", and may be interested by
buying a copy. I bought a copy of the 14th edition, in the
hope that it would solve all my problems, and have not
frequently consulted it since. I do not expect the 15th
edition to be much more useful to me, nor would I expect
it to be of particular value to any practitioner in the field
of Receivership, as we normally use the word.
This book deals principally with Receivers appointed
by the Court, a topic that takes up the first 270 or so
pages. By a coincidence, a few days after I was sent this
copy of review, I was consulted in connection with a
a case where a Receiver by way of equitable execution had
been appointed for the purpose of enforcing a judgment
debt, die second such case I have had to deal with in
over twenty years of legal practice. Unless my experience
is unusual, I imagine few practitioners will be interested in
buying the book, or frequently consulting it, in connection
with this type of Receivership.
I found the 50 or so pages in this volume devoted to
the topic of Company Receivership, as we normally know
it, rather unsatisfactory and it does not show signs of
having been recently reconsidered and updated. For
example, the statement (on page 319) that a Receiver
may "now" apply to the Court for directions reads oddly
when one bears in mind that the right to do so has existed
in England for 30 years. Again, a practitioner
representing a borrowing company or a financial
institution might get himself into trouble if he relied on the
statement (page 314) "under all forms of floating charge,
however, the company is at liberty to create charges and
other similar rights, at least in the ordinary course of
business, ranking in priority to the floating charge, even
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