Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----and their children from €310,000 to €320,000.

Film Corporation Tax Credit

To support the continued growth of the film industry in Ireland, I am legislating to extend the film corporation tax credit beyond the current end date of 2020 until December 2024. To ensure all areas of our country can benefit from the film industry, I am also introducing a new, time-limited regional uplift of up to an additional 5% that will taper out over four years. Full details of the relief will be set out in the finance Bill next week.

Tax Appeals Commission

Today I am publishing an independent review of the operations and resources of the Tax Appeals Commission, which I commissioned earlier this year. I fully support the recommendations of the review, which include the sanctioning of additional staffing resources at all levels and additional funding for improved IT systems, so that the commission can adequately address its caseload and remit.

Tax Relief for Start-up Companies

This Government recognises the value of SMEs to the economy and to job creation. In light of this, I am legislating to extend the three-year tax relief for certain start-up companies until the end of 2021.

Availability of credit is a key consideration for all businesses, and I am aware of the growth of crowdfunding. With appropriate regulation, I believe that crowdfunding can play an important role in broadening competition in the SME finance market. My Department will begin work, in conjunction with the Central Bank, on the regulation of crowdfunding in Ireland.

As part of this process, we will review the withholding tax obligations for peer-to-peer lending companies with a view to their amendment, as appropriate, following the introduction of legislation.

Publications

I am retaining the 9% VAT rate for newspaper publications and I also propose to reduce the rate for electronic publications from 23% to 9%. This will assist national and regional newspapers to remain competitive and meet the challenges of the modern media landscape.

Betting

In the area of betting, the Government's priority has been to level the playing field by extending the tax to remote bookmakers and betting exchanges. This was achieved in 2015 and I believe it is timely to increase the tax from 1% to 2% on amounts wagered in the State. In addition, betting duty on the commission earned by betting intermediaries or exchanges will increase from 15% to 25%.

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