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

I move amendment No. 9:

In page 30, line 16, to delete "10 years" and substitute "7 years".

On foot of the 2018 Indecon review of the employment investment incentive, EII, and following on from the priority package of measures I implemented in last year's Finance Bill, I have brought forward a number of enhancements to the EII scheme to increase its effectiveness and attractiveness, at the level of the investor and the level of the company.

On Committee Stage, it was agreed to increase the current annual investment limit from €150,000 to €250,000 for those who invest for four years, and to provide for a €500,000 annual investment limit in the case of those who invest for a minimum period of ten years. Following further consideration, I am bringing forward this Report Stage amendment to provide that the new €500,000 investment limit be available to those prepared to invest for a seven year period, rather than the ten years that I announced on Committee Stage. While under the proposed new arrangements the €500,000 investment limit will provide higher tax relief up front for those who invest for the longer period of at least ten years, its utility is potentially reduced by the fact that an investor could get a similar benefit by making two successive investments of €250,000 over a shorter period of eight years. The amendment is intended to address this point.

For the information of Deputies, the annual investor limit for the UK investment scheme is £1 million and the equivalent German INVEST scheme has an annual investor limit of €250,000. In both cases, the investment period is a minimum of three years.

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