600B Interpretation

Summary

Section 600B gives the meaning for various expressions and terms used throughout this Chapter. Many of the terms used in this Chapter are rooted in the General Block Exemption Regulations (GBER). Both Part 16 TCA 1997 and this Chapter 6A of Part 19 provide relief for investments in companies and conform with the conditions for permissible forms of State Aid as set out in Articles 21 and 21a of GBER.

Details

Definitions

“accounting period” shall be determined in accordance with section 27;

“arrangement” includes any agreement, understanding, scheme, transaction or series of transactions (whether enforceable or not);

“associate” has the same meaning in relation to a person as it has by virtue of subsection (3) of section 433 in relation to a participator;

“authorised officer” means an officer of the Revenue Commissioners authorised under section 600Q(1);

“business plan” has the same meaning as in section 493, which is that it is a written business plan which contains details of product, sales and profitability development, establishing exante financial viability and which includes both quantitative and qualitative details of the activities the investment is sought to support.

“certificate of going concern” has the meaning given to it by section 600F(3);

“certificate of commercial innovation” has the meaning given to it by section 600F(4);

“certificates of qualification” means—

1. a certificate of going concern, and
2. a certificate of commercial innovation;

“control” shall be construed in accordance with subsections (2) to (6) of section 432;

“date of investment” means the date of the issue of the eligible shares;

“director” shall be construed in accordance with section 433(4);

“EEA state” has the same meaning as in section 489. The EEA includes all EU Member states, Norway, Iceland, and Lichtenstein.

“employee” has the same meaning as in section 983. Broadly, this is any person who receives emoluments.

“enterprise” has the same meaning as in Annex I of the GBER. The term encompasses any entity engaged in an economic activity, irrespective of its legal form.

“eligible shares” shall be construed in accordance with section 494. The term eligible shares has the same meaning in both Part 16 and Chapter 6A.

“expansion risk finance investment” has the same meaning as in section 493, which is the issue of eligible shares to fund a new economic activity.

“follow-on risk finance investment” has the same meaning as in section 493, which is the issue of eligible shares subsequent to an initial risk finance investment or an expansion risk finance investment.

“General Block Exemption Regulation” has the same meaning as in Part 16;

“innovative enterprise” has the meaning given to it by Article 2(80) of the General Block Exemption Regulation. This may include an enterprise:

1. that can demonstrate, by means of an evaluation carried out by an external expert, that it will in the foreseeable future develop products, services or processes which are new or substantially improved compared to the state of the art in its industry, and which carry a risk of technological or industrial failure,
2. the research and development costs of which represent at least 10 % of its total operating costs in at least one of the three years preceding the granting of the aid or, in the case of a start-up enterprise without any financial history, in the audit of its current fiscal period, as certified by an external auditor, or
3. which in the 3 years preceding the granting of the aid has received certain awards or investments.

“linked businesses” has the same meaning as in section 489. This definition is taken from Annex I of GBER.

“partner businesses” has the same meaning as in Part 16. This definition is taken from Annex I of GBER.

“partnership agreement” means any valid written agreement of the partners governed by the law of the State and subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the State as to the affairs of a partnership and the conduct of its business as may be amended, supplemented or restated from time to time;

“qualifying company” shall be construed in accordance with section 600C;

“qualifying investment” shall be construed in accordance with section 600J;

“qualifying investor” shall be construed in accordance with section 600H;

“qualifying partnership” shall be construed in accordance with section 600N;

“qualifying subsidiary” shall be construed in accordance with section 600D;

“relevant trading activities” has the same meaning as in section 489. These are activities carried on in the course of a trade the profits or gains of which are charged to tax under Case I of Schedule D, excluding activities related to—

1. adventures or concerns in the nature of trade,
2. dealing in commodities or futures or in shares, securities or other financial assets,
3. financing activities,
4. the provision of professional services (within the meaning of section 128F(1)),
5. dealing in or developing land,
6. the occupation of woodlands within the meaning of section 232,
7. operating or managing hotels, guest houses, self-catering accommodation or comparable establishments or managing property used as an hotel, guest house, self-catering accommodation or comparable establishment, except where such activity is a tourist traffic undertaking (within the meaning of section 491),
8. operations carried on in the coal industry or in the steel and shipbuilding sectors, and
9. the production of a film (within the meaning of section 481).

“relief group” means a company, its partner businesses and linked businesses, taken together, and includes any relief group of which a company is a member and any company that was, at any time, a member of a relief group with a qualifying company or its qualifying subsidiaries;

“SME” means a relief group that would fall within the SME category of Annex 1 of GBER. The category of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”) is made up of enterprises which employ fewer than 250 persons and which have an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million, and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million.

“undertaking in difficulty” has the same meaning as in GBER. There are a number of tests to establish whether a business is an undertaking in difficulty. An undertaking is considered to be in difficulty when without intervention, it will almost certainly be condemned to going out of business in the short or medium term.

“unlisted” has the same meaning as in section 489 which means a company, none of whose shares, stock or debentures (within the meaning of section 2 of the Companies Act 2014) are listed in the official list of a stock exchange, or quoted on an unlisted securities market of a stock exchange other than—

1. on the market known as the Euronext Growth market operated by the Irish Stock Exchange plc trading as Euronext Dublin, or
2. on any similar or corresponding market of the stock exchange—
   1. in a Member State,
   2. in an EEA state other than the State, or
   3. in the United Kingdom.

Relevant Date: Finance Act 2024