Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. Part 16 of the TCA 1997 provides relief for investment in corporate trades. The release included in Part 16 are the employment investment incentives, EII, start-up relief for entrepreneurship and start-up capital incentive, SCI. The amendments to Part 16 are primarily to reflect the revision of regulation EU No. 651 of 2014 known as the State Aid General Bloc Exemption regulation, GBER. However, as announced in my speech on budget day, I am also making additional changes to enhance EII. The key changes include: amendments to the definition of eligible shares; a reduction in the level of investment required from 50% to 30% of the average annual turnover of the company seeking expansion risk finance where the investment would be used to significantly improve the environmental performance of the company or further environmentally sustainable investments; an increase in the lifetime limit on the amount of risk finance investment that may be raised by a qualifying company from €15 million to €16.5 million with a correlating increase in the amount that may be raised in any 12-month period from €5 million to €5.5 million; an amendment to the rate of relief that applies to investments made by investors. The rate of relief given will now depend on the basis upon which the company seeking investment is eligible for relief and on whether the investment is direct or made through a qualifying investment fund; standardising the investment period to four years for all investments; and doubling the amount on which an investor can claim relief in a tax year to four-year investments, to €500,000. The changes will have effect for shares issued from 1 January 2024.

At this point I also wish to indicate to the committee that, in light of the introduction of the new relief for investment in innovative enterprises or angel investor relief which also comes within the terms of GBER, I will be bringing forward technical amendments to Part 16 on Report Stage to ensure that these reliefs are fully aligned. These amendments will not impact on the level of relief which the investor can claim.