Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ireland has made progress in recent years to improve its capital tax offering to entrepreneurs. The capital gains tax, CGT, entrepreneur relief was introduced in budget 2016 and provided for a reduced rate of capital gains tax of €20% for entrepreneurs - that was down from 33% - subject to a lifetime threshold of €1 million in gains and to meeting certain criteria. The relief was further enhanced in budget 2017 when the reduced CGT rate applicable was further lowered from 20% to 10%. The review carried out by Indecon economic consultants found that the relief should be retained and presented a range of options which could be considered for its enhancement. However, Indecon found to increase the lifetime limit in the manner advocated by most commentators would increase Exchequer costs but would be unlikely to be cost effective with the minimal impact on reinvestment. The Minister for Finance signalled in his Budget Statement yesterday that he had asked his Department to consider the outcome of the review with a view to determining any changes that could be made to the relief to better support entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial activity.

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