Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Regulations, 1994

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 353/1994
• Year: 1994

S.I. No. 353 of 1994.

DISABLED DRIVERS AND DISABLED PASSENGERS (TAX CONCESSIONS) REGULATIONS, 1994

I, BERTIE AHERN, Minister for Finance, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 92 (as amended by section 17 of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1992 (No. 28 of 1992)) of the Finance Act, 1989 (No. 10 of 1989), and after consultation with the Minister for Health and the Minister for the Environment, hereby make the following Regulations: 1. These Regulations may be cited as the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Regulations, 1994, and shall come into operation on the 1st day of December, 1994. 2. (1) In these Regulations—

"adapted", in relation to a vehicle, does not include adaptations of production line models which are available from the manufacturer or assembler thereof as an optional extra, and "adaptation" shall be construed accordingly;

"authorised person" means a person authorised under section 136 of the Finance Act, 1992 (No. 9 of 1992);

"Board medical certificate" means a certificate duly completed in the form prescribed in the Second Schedule and issued by the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal or a certificate duly completed in the form prescribed in the Second Schedule to the Disabled Drivers (Tax Concessions) Regulations, 1989 ( S.I. No. 340 of 1989 ), and so issued under those Regulations;

"conversion" has the meaning assigned to it in section 130 of the Finance Act, 1992 ;

"disabled driver" means a severely and permanently disabled person who possesses a certificate of the kind referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of Regulation 4 and whose disablement is of such a nature that the person concerned could not drive a vehicle unless it is specially constructed or adapted to take account of that disablement;

"disabled passenger" means a severely and permanently disabled person who possesses a certificate of the kind referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of Regulation 4 and for whom a vehicle has been specially constructed or adapted to the extent prescribed in Regulation 10 (1) (a), to take account of that passenger's disablement;

"disabled person" means a person who is severely and permanently disabled, fulfilling one or more of the medical criteria set out in Regulation 3;

"licensing authority" has the meaning assigned to it in section 130 of the Finance Act, 1992 ;

"purchased" does not include any form of lease arrangement;

"qualifying organisation" means a philanthropic organisation which is not funded primarily by—

( a ) the State,

( b ) any board established by statute, or

( c ) any public or local authority,

which organisation is chiefly engaged, in a voluntary capacity on a non-commercial basis, in the care and transport of severely and permanently disabled persons and which is recognised as such, for the purposes of these Regulations, by the Revenue Commissioner;

"registered" has the meaning assigned to it in section 130 of the Finance Act, 1992 ;

"residual value-added tax" means an amount determined by the Revenue Commissioners as being equivalent to the amount of value-added tax which would be included in the open market selling price of a vehicle if it were sold by an authorised person at the time specified in these Regulations;

"residual vehicle registration tax" means an amount determined by the Revenue Commissioners as being equivalent to the amount of vehicle registration tax which would be chargeable if that vehicle were liable for such tax at the time specified in these Regulations;

"vehicle" has the meaning assigned to it in section 130 of the Finance Act, 1992 .

(2) In these Regulations a reference to a Regulation or Schedule is to a Regulation of, or Schedule to, these Regulations and a reference to a paragraph or subparagraph is to a paragraph or subparagraph of the provision in which the reference occurs.

Medical criteria 3. For the purposes of section 92 (2) (a) of the Finance Act, 1989 , the eligibility on medical grounds of disabled persons who are severely and permanently disabled shall be assessed by reference to any one or more of the following medical criteria:

( a ) persons who are wholly or almost wholly without the use of both legs;

( b ) persons wholly without the use of one of their legs and almost wholly without the use of the other leg such that they are severely restricted as to movement of their lower limbs;

( c ) persons without both hands or without both arms;

( d ) persons without one or both legs;

( e ) persons wholly or almost wholly without the use of both hands or arms and wholly or almost wholly without the use of one leg;

( f ) persons having the medical condition of dwarfism and who have serious difficulties of movement of the lower limbs. 4. Without prejudice to Regulation 5, a claim for repayment or remission under these Regulations shall be allowed only where the person who makes the claim, or in connection with whom the claim is made, is in possession of either—

( a ) a primary medical certificate duly completed in the form prescribed in the First Schedule as evidence of qualifying disablement, signed, dated and endorsed with the official stamp by the appropriate Director of Community Care and Medical Officer of Health, or

( b ) a Board medical certificate duly completed in the form prescribed in the Second Schedule as evidence of qualifying disablement, signed and dated by a member of the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal:

Provided that compliance with this Regulation may be waived by the Revenue Commissioners in the case of a claim made by a qualifying organisation. 5. Any person who is deemed, by virtue of section 92 (3) (b) of the Finance Act, 1989 , to be a person who possesses a primary medical certificate shall be deemed to have satisfied the Revenue Commissioners and the licensing authority concerned that that person is a disabled driver or a disabled passenger as the case may be.

Medical Board of Appeal 6. (1) Subject to Regulation 19 (3), on the nomination of the Minister for Health the Minister for Finance shall appoint, for a period in each case of 4 years, three medical practitioners to the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal (in these Regulations referred to as "the Board") and any such practitioner may be reappointed by the Minister for Finance on the nomination of the Minister for Health for a further such period or periods.

(2) Every vacancy on the Board shall be filled by the appointment by the Minister for Finance of a medical practitioner, nominated for that purpose by the Minister for Health, for the remainder of the period to which the former member's appointment to the Board had related.

(3) Whenever the Minister for Health so requests, the Minister for Finance shall remove any named person from the Board.

(4) A person who is dissatisfied by a decision of a Director of Community Care and Medical Officer of Health in respect of primary medical certification may appeal to the Board within 28 days, or such longer period as it may allow, of the person first being informed of that decision.

(5) Where the Board adjudicates in favour of the disabled driver or disabled passenger concerned, as the case may be, it shall issue a Board medical certificate. 7. Where a licensing authority or the Revenue Commissioners have reason to believe that the person named on a primary medical certificate or a Board medical certificate or who was deemed to have satisfied the said authority or Commissioners under the terms of Regulation 5, does not fulfil any one of the criteria set out in Regulation 3, they shall refer such person to the Board who shall cancel the primary medical certificate or Board medical certificate in question, if they consider it appropriate to do so.

Reliefs for disabled drivers 8. (1) Where a person satisfies the Revenue Commissioners that that person is a disabled driver and has borne or paid value-added tax, vehicle registration tax or residual vehicle registration tax in respect of a vehicle or in respect of the adaptation of a vehicle which—

( a ) is specially constructed or adapted to take account of that person's disablement,

( b ) is purchased by that person,

( c ) is registered in the name of that person, and

( d ) is fitted with an engine whose capacity is not greater than 2,000 cubic centimetres,

that person shall be entitled to be repaid the said amounts of tax and residual vehicle registration tax, subject to the limit specified in Regulation 9 for the purposes of this Regulation:

Provided that the Revenue Commissioners shall repay residual vehicle registration tax only where the person concerned has purchased the vehicle in question from an authorised person.

(2) Where at the time of registration of a vehicle in the name of a person who satisfies the Revenue Commissioners that that person is a disabled driver and the vehicle in question complies with the provisions set out at subparagraphs (a), (b) and (d) of paragraph (1), the Revenue Commissioners shall remit the vehicle registration tax payable, subject to the limit specified in Regulation 9 for the purposes of this Regulation.

(3) Where, after these Regulations come into force, a person becomes a severely and permanently disabled person who fulfils one of the medical criteria set out in Regulation 3 after that person has purchased a vehicle which complies with the provisions set out at subparagraphs (c) and (d) of paragraph (1), and the vehicle is specially adapted to take account of that person's disablement, that person shall be entitled to be repaid—

( a ) the amount of residual value-added tax and residual vehicle registration tax appropriate to the vehicle at the time such person lodges a claim with the Revenue Commissioners, and

( b ) the value-added tax charged in respect of the adaptation of that vehicle,

subject to the limit specified in Regulation 9 for the purposes of this Regulation.

(4)...