Citation, commencement and interpretation

1. —(1) This Order may be cited as the Gender Recognition (Application Fees) Order 2006 and comes into force on 6th April 2006.

(2) In this Order, any reference to a section by number alone is a reference to the section so numbered in the Gender Recognition Act 2004.

(3) In articles 2 to 4 of this Order, “application” means an application, made on or after 6th April 2006, to a Gender Recognition Panel under section 1(1), 5(2), 5A(2) or 6(1).

(4) In articles 2 and 3 of this Order—

(a) “relevant income” has the meaning given in article 4; and

(b) “qualifying benefit” has the meaning given in article 5.

Application fees

2. Subject to article 3, the fee payable under section 7(2) in relation to an application is the amount prescribed in the table below, corresponding to the relevant income of the applicant.

Circumstances in which no fee is payable

3. No fee is payable in relation to an application if—

(a) the application is made under section 1(1) and—

(i) an interim gender recognition certificate was previously issued to the applicant;

(ii) the applicant’s relevant income is £15,460 or less; or

(iii) at the date of the application, the applicant is in receipt of any qualifying benefit; or

(b) the application is made under section 5(2), 5A(2) or 6(1).

Definition of relevant income

4. —(1) ”Relevant income”, in relation to any applicant, means the sum of the applicant's—

(a) relevant employment income,

(b) relevant trading income, and

(c) relevant chargeable gains.

(2) “Relevant employment income” means employment income chargeable to income tax under Chapter 3 of Part 2 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 ( 2 ) for the tax year immediately preceding that in which the application is made.

(3) “Relevant trading income” means the profits of a trade, profession or vocation chargeable to income tax under Chapter 2 of Part 2 of the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005 ( 3 ) for the tax year immediately preceding that in which the application is made.

(4) “Relevant chargeable gains” means gains on which tax is chargeable in accordance with the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 ( 4 ) in the year of assessment immediately preceding that in which the application is made.

(5) For the purposes of calculating relevant employment income, relevant trading income and relevant chargeable gains in a case where the applicant was not at all material times resident, ordinarily resident and domiciled in the United Kingdom for the purposes of income tax and the taxation of chargeable gains, the applicant is to be treated as if he were so resident, ordinarily resident and domiciled.

Definition of qualifying benefit

5. “Qualifying benefit” means any of the following—

(a) income support;

(b) working tax credit, provided that—

(i) child tax credit is being paid to the applicant, or otherwise following a claim made jointly by the applicant and another person as a couple pursuant to section 3(3) of the Tax Credits Act 2002( 5 ); or

(ii) there is a disability element or severe disability element (or both) to the tax credit received by the applicant;

and that the gross annual income taken into account for the calculation of the working tax credit is £15,460 or less;

(c) income-based jobseeker’s allowance under—

(i) the Jobseekers Act 1995( 6 ); or

(ii) the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 1995( 7 );

(d) guarantee credit under—

(i) the State Pension Credit Act 2002( 8 ); or

(ii) the State Pension Credit Act (Northern Ireland) 2002( 9 ).

Revocation and saving

6. The Gender Recognition (Application Fees) Order 2005( 10 ) shall continue to apply in relation to any application made before 6th April 2006, but is otherwise revoked.