Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 19:

In page 14, line 25, after "2014" to insert "is amended".

As amendments Nos. 19 to 21, inclusive, relate to the employment and investment incentive scheme, I propose to take these amendments together.

Amendments Nos. 19 and 20 are technical in nature and are designed to correct drafting errors in section 16 of the Finance Bill, which amends Part 16 of the Principal Act (Employment and Investment Incentive).

Amendment No. 21 relates to those funds that have raised subscriptions by 31 December 2014 and are currently required, under section 506 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, to invest the amounts subscribed for the purposes of the employment and investment incentive into eligible shares by 31 December 2015.

I am introducing an extension whereby in this specific set of circumstances, shares issued through the fund up to 31 January 2016 can be treated for the purposes of the relief as if they had been issued in the 2015 year of assessment.

This amendment provides for a short extension of the time available to funds who need to ensure that all the companies they have targeted for investments continue to meet the new requirements of the incentive and to complete their own compliance checks before shares are issue. This short extension allows limited additional time for these funds by treating such investments as if they were made within 2015. Without the amendment, should a fund miss the 31 December deadline for the issue of shares a fund would be required to refund all investments made thus disadvantaging both the individual investors and companies seeking to raise finance.