Results 5,381-5,400 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: We will ask Revenue if they believe there is any difficulty in communicating that this credit is available.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: I move amendment No. 7:In page 10, to delete lines 6 to 8. I propose to take amendments No. 7 to 12, inclusive, and amendment No. 98 together as they all relate to section 6 of the Bill. I propose to deal with amendments Nos. 7, 9, 10 and 11 initially. These amendments are essentially technical in nature and their main purpose is to clarify that the exemption provided for under section 6...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: The case for payment of tax-free expenses has been principally made by the foreign direct investment community, its representatives, the IDA and other organisations that are endeavouring to bring in foreign expertise at board level. It is worth noting that, in response to recent consultation on the tax treatment of expenses generally, the majority of submissions focused largely or entirely...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: I would have to agree with the Deputy that the introduction of any such concessions immediately prompts calls for others. I would respond to these by noting that work on examining the submissions received is continuing and, should further legislative changes be identified, I will take the appropriate steps to introduce them, as necessary. That work will take account of the principles...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: As expenses which are currently taxable cannot be separately identified from the salary of a non-executive director, it is not possible to provide an estimate of the cost to the Exchequer. It affects a small number of people. For the further information of the Deputy, section 886 of the Taxes Consolidation Act requires records to be maintained relating to all sums of money expended in the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: As we said, it is a governance issue. Men and women from the parent board will serve on the board of the Irish company. It principally applies to travel in the United States. It is important, particularly in the financial services industry, that there is very strong governance. This has inhibited companies, particularly in the US, appointing directors which is required under governance,...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: It is for vouched expenses to go to a board meeting.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: I move amendment No. 9:In page 10, to delete lines 9 and 10 and substitute the following:" 'relevant director', in relation to a company, means a director who is not resident in the State and is a non-executive director of that company;".

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: I move amendment No. 10:In page 10, to delete line 14 and substitute the following:" 'travel' means travel by car, motorcycle, taxi, bus, rail, boat or aircraft.".

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: I move amendment No. 11:In page 10, line 17, after "director" to insert ", on and from 1 January 2016,".

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: I move amendment No. 13:In page 10, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following:"Exemption in respect of certain expenses of State Examinations Commission examiners 7.The Principal Act is amended by inserting the following section after section 195B:"Exemption in respect of certain expenses of State Examinations Commission examiners 195C.(1) In this section—'civil servant' has...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: It is €4 million. It is simply that, historically, expenses incurred by examination staff for the State examinations were exempt from tax. A ruling made by Revenue last year brought them into the tax net. It means the people involved will either get extra expenses through the education Vote or they will get them this way. After consideration, it was decided it is better to do it...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: It is drafted very narrowly.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: They were never taxed until the ruling. The Department of Education and Skills paid the tax last year because the ruling was made after payments had been made. The Department of Education and Skills approached me and suggested I speak to the Minister, Deputy Howlin, about giving it extra money because it could not run the State examinations if there were a reduction in this element of the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: I do not think so. The general issue is expenses from one's home to one's place of work. It was the practice in the supervision of State examinations that no supervisor could be in a neighbourhood school. Under the terms of their contract, they had to be quite a distance from home. Usually it would be 30 to 40 miles and sometimes it would be much farther. I think because of that...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: Section 7 amends section 470 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 which provides relief for insurance against the expenses of illness. This amendment will have the effect of changing the definition of a child in the section to reflect the changes that were made to section 7(5) of the Health Insurance Act 1994 by the Health Insurance (Amendment) Act 2014. The amendment to the Health Insurance...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: That is not quite it. Changes were made in a previous Finance Bill which removed the tax break below a certain threshold and in doing that it caught children under 18 years. Now there are policies on offer. Effectively we want the child exemption to apply to children, as defined now, between 18 and 21 years. It is a concession to bring tax practice into line with the types of insurance...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: The Minister for Health contacted me on this issue.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: The Commission on Taxation in its 2009 report recommended the retention of medical insurance relief but that it should be limited. The introduction of an upper ceiling on the amount of medical insurance premiums that qualify for tax relief achieves this recommendation. That is what we did in a previous Finance Bill. This Government also supports citizens in retaining access to medical...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: The home renovation incentive scheme has been very successful to date, with works on just over 27,000 homes notified to the Revenue HRI online system as of 30 September 2015. This represents more than €588 million worth of works involving 6,000 contractors. That it is online and the contractor has to register as tax compliant means everything that happens is in the white economy...