Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 739N

Anti-avoidance: multiple funds further measures

Section 739N sets out exceptions to the personal portfolio IREF (PPIREF) rules, providing relief in certain circumstances where an Irish real estate fund would otherwise be treated as a PPIREF.

• Where an IREF would otherwise be a PPIREF of a pension scheme, investment undertaking or life assurance company that is itself widely held and not under the direction of any of its own investors, the IREF is not treated as a PPIREF.
• Where an IREF only qualifies as a PPIREF because it received assets through an in specie contribution as part of a scheme of amalgamation, it is not treated as a PPIREF in respect of the unit holder concerned.
• Where the IREF would be a PPIREF solely because a person connected with the unit holder can influence asset selection, but that connected person cannot be influenced by the unit holder or show it any preference over other unit holders, the IREF is not treated as a PPIREF.
• An IREF is not treated as a PPIREF of another IREF that holds units in it, provided the holding is for genuine commercial purposes and is not part of a tax avoidance arrangement. Separately, the capital gains tax rules in section 29(3) relating to assets deriving value from land do not apply to units in an IREF.