Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. This measure was introduced in the Finance Act 2019, with a lead-in period to 1 January this year. The purpose of this lead-in period was to allow fleet planning by corporate organisations that were planning leases, which are typically over three years, to enable a transition to electric vehicles and others. This is a carbon-based measure that brings the benefit-in-kind taxation regime into line with other vehicle taxation regimes, such as motor tax and vehicle registration tax, which, of course, are carbon-based. The legislation aligns the three taxes across the board with a lead-in period. I appreciate the difficulty people are facing at the moment, but the lead-in period was put in place to enable corporates to plan for their employees. I strongly encourage employees to look towards electric vehicle grants that are available to further facilitate the transition.

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