ICAI Reflects On Irish Finance Bill

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

11 May 2009

On May 7, the Irish Finance Bill 2009 was published, confirming all the income levy increases and tax relief cuts announced in the April Budget. Despite draconian tax increases on all possible fronts there is one small element of relief for hard pressed taxpayers who have lost their jobs – the Minister for Finance won’t look for the income levy on their redundancy payments.

Commenting in a statement, ICAI Tax Director Brian Keegan said:

“Most taxpayers have yet to feel the pain of the increases in levies and income tax, as most changes only take effect from May 1. This Finance Bill sets out the legal mechanism to increase the hit on their wages”.

Companies will be glad of some additional relief for investing in Intellectual Property – licenses, copyrights and know-how. “Up to now, companies have not had any clear tax relief for investing in Intellectual Property,” Keegan added. “The new rules mean that a company will get the same kind of relief for its investment in a copyright or a license to manufacture a product as it does for buying a machine”. The relief is quite limited however – for a company every EUR100 it spends on Intellectual Property might only reduce its tax bill by about EUR1 per year over 15 years.

"Overall, this Finance Bill is about collecting additional taxes – aside from the Intellectual Property relief, there’s few if any measures to stimulate economic growth or confidence," notes Keegan.

"In fact, because of the way the Income Levy increases are being applied, confidence in the integrity of the system is being damaged. Income earned in the earlier part of the year will be subject to a higher rate of income levy than the rate applying at that time. Any form of retrospective taxation sends out a poor message to anyone investing in Ireland. All taxpayers should be aware of the amount of tax they have to pay, there should be no doubt,” concluded Keegan.

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