Results 11,901-11,920 of 35,756 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: A company has to pay income tax on its rent. REITs do not. A company has capital gains tax to pay but REITs do not. They have to distribute a certain portion of their income or of their proceeds. The structure of this is the investors are foreign investors and, therefore, are only subject to dividend withholding tax that in some cases they are reducing to close to zero. This is why we...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: That means a REIT will not be subject to capital gains tax.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: That is the point. They will not be subject to capital gains tax. We go back to the point that if they will not be subject to capital gains tax, then it is property that makes up REITs. They are not buying shares in Apple or Google. It is property that is making up REITs and, therefore, they derive the dividends they are disbursing as a result of either the rent roll they are getting from...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I appreciate that.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I do. I have acknowledged it.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I welcome the section. Last year, I tabled an amendment asking for the relief to be increased from 25% to 30% for small businesses. The Acting Chairman may take note of this as he said on television that none of my suggestions is ever taken on board.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I welcome this support for small and micro businesses. We have debated quite a bit the distribution of the research and development tax credit. The wider issue is that we need to look at what is happening in terms of small and medium enterprises and micro enterprises here. They are not productive enough and I hope this move will be a support. Last year, I also asked for what we referred...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: As I said, I welcome the fact we are moving to 30% for the research and development tax credit, which will partly address the issue, because the more of our smaller micro companies that are involved in research and development, the better. Is there a particular reason the Department did not look at the system in the North? Perhaps it did look at it. It uses a different template and process...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: One point that has been made is that for a small or micro-company involved in research and development and claiming this credit, there is a clawback scenario that can occur. If that company, which is not trying to scam the system, falls foul of the technical rules, that clawback could have a serious impact on it. The suggestion is that many of them just stay away from it because the risk is...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: On EII more generally, I have two questions. The first concerns the 40% that is to be claimed upfront in year one, as opposed to 30%, and then the 10% in year three. The 10% in year three was subject to conditions laid out by Revenue in terms of research and development and job creation. Do those conditions still apply and, if the relief has been paid out in year one, is there a clawback...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Is there no concern in regard to funds changing direction in that Revenue might not be able to claw this back, for example, if these are institutional investors?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: The second question is in regard to the consultation that was carried out, and this was included in the tax strategy papers. Obviously, they looked for the 40% upfront and they also argued for micro support to mirror the seed enterprise investment scheme, SEIS, in Britain, which provides 50% for micro companies, given the volatility and higher risk in regard to start-ups. I am interested to...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Is that 50% as well?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: The micro support is the same as the EII. One of the four points that came out of the consultation, however, was that there should be the introduction of a micro SME similar to the UK seed enterprise investment scheme, including an enhanced investor return of 50%. The British one provides a 50% return and exempts the shares from capital gains tax, which is to do with the higher risk of...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: While we seem to be making changes to the EII scheme every year, there were significant changes to the EII scheme in last year's Finance Bill, not in terms of its rates, but in terms of the process, the application and streamlining in general. This followed quite a bit of criticism, it is fair to say, from some companies and sectors in regard to delays, documentation, getting approval and so...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 31: In page 30, between lines 15 and 16, to insert the following: “Report on revised threshold for High Wealth Individuals 26. The Minister shall, within 3 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the introduction of a new threshold for High Wealth Individuals defined as persons in possession of net assets of...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: We should do it now.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I have a few questions. First, with regard to the amendment, would a company disposing of a property where it is subject to capital gains tax be able to reduce that against the debt that would be held on the property? That is my understanding of what the amendment does.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I will make my point on the overall issue. My concern about this section, which deals with REITs, is the tax that will be paid now on the disposal of property. It will not be capital gains tax at 33% but, presumably, class 4 corporation tax at 20%, which is not what other companies would pay if they were disposing of properties. This refers back to my earlier comments. This is property...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Notwithstanding my issues regarding how IREFs are taxed and so on, some of the amendments go in a direction of dealing with aggressive tax planning within the structure, and I welcome that. The Minister was not mincing his words when he stated it is deeply technical. We will need his expanded speaking notes and we will look at the amendments further on Report Stage. It will be too late at...