ENROLLED VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS (TAX EXEMPTION) RULES

ENROLLED VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS

(TAX EXEMPTION)

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 123.190

ENROLLED VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS

(TAX EXEMPTION) RULES

1st January, 2020

LEGAL NOTICE 115 of 2019, as amended by Legal Notice 39 of

2021.

The title of these rules is the Enrolled Voluntary

Organisations (Exemption) Rules.

In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires

"the competent authority" means the Commissioner for

Voluntary Organisations established under the relevant Act;

"the register" means the register of enrolled voluntary

organisations maintained for the purposes of the relevant Act;

"the relevant Act" means the Voluntary Organisations

Act.

Subject to the other provisions of these rules, a voluntary

organisation shall be exempt from tax for any year of assessment in

respect of which it satisfies all the following conditions

(a)

it is an enrolled organisation;

(b)

its turnover for the year immediately preceding

the year of assessment does not exceed fifty thousand euro

(50,000); and

(c)

it is compliant with all the provisions of the

relevant Act that are applicable to it.

(1)

For the purpose of paragraph (a) of rule 3, an

organisation shall be treated as an enrolled organisation if it was

enrolled in the register as at the end of the year immediately preceding

the year of assessment or, in the case of an organisation that ceased to

exist during that year, if it was enrolled in the register immediately

before it ceased to exist.

(2)

When an organisation is enrolled in the register in any

year, but it is not so enrolled for the whole of that year, it shall only be

treated as having satisfied the condition mentioned in paragraph (b) of

rule 3 if its turnover for that year did not exceed such portion of the

amount of fifty thousand euro (50,000) as corresponds pro rata to the

number of months during that year in which its name was on the

register.

(3)

Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of

ENROLLED VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS

(TAX EXEMPTION)

paragraph (c) of rule 3, an organisation shall not be treated as being

compliant with the provisions of the relevant Act if any sanction has

been imposed against it in term of the provisions of article 19 or article

22 of the relevant Act or if any proceedings have been commenced for

the imposition of any such sanction.

The tax exemption referred to in rule 3 shall apply for the

year of assessment in respect of which a certificate is issued by the

competent authority and delivered to the Commissioner for Revenue

confirming that the organisation satisfied the conditions for the

exemption during the year immediately preceding that year of

assessment, and shall continue to apply for subsequent years of

assessment unless and until the certificate is revoked.

(1)

Where the competent authority has issued a

certificate confirming that an organisation satisfied the conditions for

exemption as provided in rule 5, and

(a)

it later results that the organisation was not

actually entitled to the exemption; or

(b)

the organisation does no longer satisfy the

conditions for the exemption,

the competent authority shall revoke the certificate and shall inform

the Commissioner for Revenue the year as from which the

revocation is effective.

(2)

The effect of a revocation of the certificate is that the

organisation in question will be treated as never having been exempt

from tax for the years of assessment to which the revocation applies,

and the provisions of the Income Tax Acts, including those relating to

the obligation to pay the tax, interest for late payment and additional

tax for omissions and defaults, shall apply accordingly.

Where the issuance of a certificate as referred to in rule 5

has been withheld or where a certificate so issued has been revoked

solely on the ground of proceedings against the organisation as

contemplated in sub-rule (3) of rule 4 and those proceedings are then

withdrawn or it results upon their conclusion that there are no grounds

on which any sanctions should be imposed against the organisation, the

competent authority shall issue the certificate or reverse the revocation

with such retroactive effect as may be necessary in the circumstances.