Results 26,901-26,920 of 27,945 for speaker:Michael McGrath

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy for the question. The tax debt warehousing scheme has offered valuable and practical liquidity support to businesses during the Covid pandemic and continues to support businesses as they recover from the impacts of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. It has assisted businesses with their cash flow during difficult trading periods, preventing business failure. ...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: It is important to emphasise a number of points. One is that the requirement on businesses is to engage with Revenue now and to enter into an agreement by 1 May 2024. I have seen reports that they must have repaid their tax warehouse debt by 1 May but that is not the case. It is not even necessarily the case that there has to be a downpayment by that date but they must have entered into an...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: -----and to monthly repayments. I will perhaps put on record the breakdown in a moment when I get a chance.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: First, the tax debt warehousing scheme is a really good scheme when compared to the interest rates that apply, for example, to other tax debt. Non-warehoused tax debt has a general interest rate of 10% or 8% in the case of income tax underpayments. That just puts in context that this is a really good scheme. We do have to be fair to all of those who did not avail of tax debt...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: So hospitality is not among the top sectors benefiting from this scheme.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Reliefs (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy very much. Landlords are an essential feature of a functioning housing market. Rising rents are driven by a shortage of supply, so stabilising and increasing the supply of rental properties should ease upward pressure on rental prices and make it easier for prospective tenants to find affordable homes. The new residential premises rental income relief is a tax relief...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Reliefs (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: This gives a total cost for the rent tax credit in 2024 in our budget documentation of €288 million.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Reliefs (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy. This is a measure designed, principally, to retain investment in the private rental sector. The trend in recent years has been very clear. The evidence is there for everyone to see. Over the past year, more than 24,000 notices of termination have been received, and 14,500 of these were stated as being due to the landlord selling the property. Some 60% of all notices...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Reliefs (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: The logical extension of the Deputy's position is that if he was in Government and was the Minister for Finance, he would only introduce measures that were fully supported by the officials in his Department.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Reliefs (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: This is the thrust of what he is saying.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Reliefs (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: In the context of that scenario, the Deputy should be prepared to find that the vast majority of his taxation proposals, which comprises up to €3 billion of new tax proposals, will not meet with the support of the officials in the Department of Finance. The thrust of what he is saying, therefore, is that he is going to drop those proposals and not go ahead with them. In that...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Reliefs (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: There is no point in having an elected Government-----

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Reliefs (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: The elected Government considers all the advice and all the issues and then makes policy decisions. On the issue of deadweight, the Deputy should look at some of his own proposals. For example, he wants to get rid of the local property tax. Where is the deadweight in removing a charge from many people who are well able to afford to pay it? Where is the deadweight in the Deputy's proposal...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Reliefs (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: The Deputy, therefore, should be very careful about getting up on his high horse because it will all rebound on him at some point in the future if he is privileged enough to be elected to government.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Reliefs (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: I can. The Deputy's tax package will fall away.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: EU Directives (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy for the question. In November of 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union, ECJ, ruled in joined cases C-37/20 and C-601/20 that a provision of the EU anti-money laundering, AML, directive under which information on the beneficial ownership of corporate and other legal entities held in central registers must be provided to the general public is invalid. The court...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: EU Directives (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy. As is normal when there is a European Court of Justice judgment that impacts policy or the application of EU law in Ireland, the line Department consults the Attorney General. That is what happened in this case, and that formed the basis of the statutory instrument that was introduced and ultimately signed into law. I am a very strong supporter of transparency in these...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: EU Directives (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: The Deputy makes the fair point that there are different interpretations of the ECJ judgment across member states. That is the case. As we would be expected to do, we consulted the Government’s legal officer. We received advice and it was on that basis that the statutory instrument was devised. There has been no policy decision and there is certainly no policy intent to restrict...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Reliefs (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: I thank Deputy Crowe. The VAT rating of goods and services is subject to the requirements of EU VAT law, with which Irish VAT law must comply. In general, the EU VAT directive provides that all goods and services are liable to VAT at the standard rate unless they fall within categories of goods and services specified in Annex III of the VAT directive, in respect of which member states may...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Reliefs (1 Feb 2024)

Michael McGrath: The matter is complex, as the Deputy gathered from the reply. We do have to comply with the EU VAT directive. The key principle is that similar products are treated in a similar manner for VAT purposes. We could make a policy decision in Ireland to reduce the VAT on certain gluten-free products but we would also have to do it for the non-gluten-free equivalents. That is where we have...