S.L. 325.6 Art. 14Training assistance.

(1) Where the Corporation is satisfied that any individual employed by a qualifying company, being a company which qualifies as such in terms of article 3(1)(a) and (b) of the Act, is a full-time or part-time employee, whether employed under an indefinite or definite contract (hereinafter in this regulation referred to as the "employee") and that such employee is undergoing training in accordance with a training programme approved by the Corporation, a training grant may be given by the Corporation to the company, which grant shall not exceed -

(a) where such grant is given to a company which qualifies as a small or medium-sized enterprise -

(i) 45% of the eligible costs where the training provided is specific training; and

(ii) 80% of the eligible costs where the training provided is general training;

(b) where the grant is given to a company which does not qualify as a small or medium-sized enterprise -

(i) 35% of the eligible costs where the training provided is specific training; and

(ii) 60% of the eligible costs where the training provided is general training.

(2) For the purposes of sub-regulation (1), the eligible costs are:

(a) trainers’ fees and, or costs;

(b) trainers’ and the employee’s travel expenses;

(c) cost of consultancy services with regard to the training project;

(d) the personnel costs relating to the employee: provided that only the hours during which the employee effectively participates in the training, after deduction of any productive hours or of their equivalent, may be taken into account.

(3) In this regulation:

(a) "general training" means training that provides qualifications or skills that are transferable to other enterprises or fields of work and thereby improving the employability of an employee; and

(b) "specific training" means training involving tuition which is applicable only to the employee’s present or future position within the enterprise to which the grant is given.

(4) The Corporation may, after having obtained the approval of the Minister, provide grants in excess of the limits set out in this regulation.

(5) A company which carries on or intends to carry on the activities referred to in regulation 4(3)(e), (f) or (j), either solely or together with any of the activities referred to in article 3(1)(a) and

(b) of the Act shall, subject to the approval of the Corporation, be entitled to the benefit provided by this regulation.

(6) The Corporation may provide a training grant in the form of a tax credit (hereinafter referred to as a "training tax credit") to a company which carries on or intends to carry on an activity which consists of the repair, improvement or maintenance of aircraft or of engines or equipment incorporated in such aircraft; and where the Corporation approves the granting of such a training tax credit, the provisions of sub-regulations (7) to (9) shall apply.

(7) Without prejudice to the provisions of the proviso to sub-regulation (9), the amount of the training tax credit which may be approved by the Corporation shall not exceed the maximum amount of grants which the Corporation may give in terms of sub-regulation (1).

(8) The amount of training tax credit which may be approved by the Corporation in respect of a company for a year of assessment shall be based on the eligible costs incurred by such company in the accounting period ending in the year preceding that year of assessment.

(9) A company entitled to a training tax credit may benefit from that tax credit for year of assessment 2003 and subsequent years of assessment by deducting from the amount of income tax which is due on its chargeable income derived from its trade or business for a year of assessment the amount of the training tax credit and where the framing tax credit, for any year of assessment, exceeds the income tax payable by such a company for that year the excess shall be added to the training tax credit for the following year and deemed to be part of that training tax credit, or if there is no such training tax credit for that year, be deemed to be the training tax credit for that year and so on for subsequent years: Provided that so much of the training tax credit which is not so utilised at the end of any year and which is therefore carried forward to be added to the training tax credit of the following year of assessment and deemed to be part of that training tax credit or to be deemed to be the training tax credit for that year, shall be increased by seven per cent per annum or by such other rate as may be further prescribed by the Minister by notice in the Gazette; and where any part of the training tax credit as so increased is again not utilised so much of it as is not utilised shall be further increased by the said percentage and carried forward to the following year and so on for subsequent years: Provided further that a training tax credit may only be deducted from the tax due on chargeable income which is derived from any of the activities referred to in sub-regulation (6).