In these Regulations—

• “the Order” means the Education (Student Support) (Northern Ireland) Order 1998;

• “the 1970 Act” means the Taxes Management Act 19705;

• “the 1988 Act” means the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 19886;

• “the 2003 Act” means the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 20037;

• “the 2005 Act” means The Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 20058;

• “the 2007 Act” means the Income Tax Act 20079;

• “academic year” means the period from 1st September in any year to 31st August of the following year, regardless of whether this is, in fact, the period over which a borrower’s course runs;

• “borrower” means a person to whom the Department has lent money pursuant to regulations made under Article 3 of the Order and who has not received a notice from the Department that it has been repaid or cancelled;

• “Department” means the Department for Employment and Learning;

• “HMRC” means Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs;

• “National Insurance number” means the National Insurance number allocated within the meaning of the Social Security (Contributions) Regulations 200110;

• “overseas provisions” means the requirements of these Regulations in Part 5;

• “overseas borrowers” means borrowers making or due to make repayments in accordance with Part 5;

• “repayment” means repayment of a student loan;

• F1“repayment threshold” means an amount given in regulation 24(6);

• “repayment threshold Year” means: the period from 6th April to 5th April of the following year;

• “student loan” means the total outstanding principal, interest, penalties and charges owed by a borrower to the Department pursuant to these or any other regulations made under Article 3 of the Order excluding any interest, penalties or charges payable under Part 3 or 4;

• “the Taxes Acts” has the same meaning as it has in the 1970 Act;

• “tax year” –

  1. a

     for the purposes of Part 4 and any provision of Part 2 relating to Part 4 means the period from 6th April to 5th April of the following year;

  2. b

     F2subject to sub-paragraph (c), for the purposes of Part 3 and any provision of Part 2 relating to Part 3 means any year of assessment for the purposes of the 1970 Act;

  3. c

     F3for the purposes of regulations 31 and 35(1) and (2) means the period from 6th April to 5th April of the following year and

• F4“tax year 2009-10” for the purpose of Part 3 means the tax year beginning on 6 th April 2009 (and any corresponding expression in which two years are similarly mentioned is to be read in the same way);

• “the tribunal” means the First-tier Tribunal or, where determined by or under the Tribunal Procedure (Upper Tribunal) Rules 200811, the Upper Tribunal.

These Regulations apply to repayments of student loans made under the Order.