Results 3,761-3,780 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Minister. If possible, I would like to receive written responses to my outstanding queries.

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: Ultimately, it is about getting proper taxes. The fact that companies have made significant amounts of money means that they had smart business people. To be honest, I do not think people have got their heads around exactly how much profit is being made. It is off the scale. Companies are turning investments of €80 million into profits of €400 million, for example. What is...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: The figure of €20 billion refers to NAMA transactions, but when one includes transactions in IBRC, HBOS, Deutsche Bank, etc. one reaches a figure of €40 billion very quickly. Revenue states the yield figure I used was too high at 9%. The yield I used was taken from the filed accounts of vulture funds and was net of normal interest deductions, business costs, operating costs...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: I move amendment No. 39:In page 43, between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following:"(iv) for which there may be no shared ownership, or control, in the State or internationally, between the qualifying company and the recipient of any interest or other distribution payable.". This amendment is linked to the charity issue. As the Minister stated, the rationale for charitable trust ownership is...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: It is a lot to try to process across the floor given the various rules and treaties. My understanding of what the Minister said was that the new rule that a maximum of 30% of earnings could be deducted as interest payments will probably be introduced here in 2024. Ireland is probably one of those countries deemed to have the laws in place. I imagine that is not very useful in terms of...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: An internal loan would be allowed.

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Minister.

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: It is worrying to hear that the Government does not believe that it will be able to provide an informed view within 18 months. Large amounts of tax are at stake and there is an agreed policy position across the House that this needs to be shut down and these companies need to pay their taxes. They can pay their taxes as 25% section 110 tax, as 12.5% corporation tax plus 33% capital gains...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: We must be really careful with the logic which states that this section, which deals with Irish real estate funds, makes things better from a tax perspective and, therefore, that we should support it because one cannot just take a one-year view. The view expressed on Committee Stage was very clear, namely, it is currently the case that property businesses in this country do not pay...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: No, I understood.

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: I understood. My comments are to the Minister of State. I am not responding to Deputy Burton's comment at all. I am responding to the Minister of State, to the amendment and to what Deputy Boyd Barrett said. There is a danger that we take the baseline as today and say that the IREF section brings in some welcome anti-avoidance measures and some new withholding tax provisions and that,...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: If the point of this section is to tax foreign investors, then the section fails because while I agree with Deputy Pearse Doherty that foreign landlords are buying large swathes of the country - or at least the capital - it is institutional landlords that are making the purchases. Yes, there are exceptions, but institutional landlords in this section remain completely exempt from withholding...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: Amendment No. 47 substitutes in new wording-----

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: I apologise.

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: Amendment No. 47 speaks to one of the core parts of the IREF, which is if a property is held for five years no capital gains tax is paid. The argument we heard put forward on Committee Stage was this was the introduction of capital gains tax. The argument was no capital gains tax is paid on property now, but because of amendment No. 47 if a property is held for less than five years, capital...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: Well, people are meant to.

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: Perhaps land was a bad example, but for virtually everything else people pay capital gains tax. The international investors who came in here and bought great bargains will be able to walk out of the country without paying any capital gains tax and it is wrong. Other countries do not do this. It has led to a property bubble. I agree with Deputy Boyd Barrett. The opportunity was to move...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: Can I come back in?

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: I may not have caught the answer. Will the withholding tax apply to profits from capital gains? If an apartment company makes €10 million by selling apartments, will that be captured? No capital gains tax will be applied to it but will the gain be captured by the withholding tax? The Minister said the Government retains taxing rights in Irish property but it has given them all...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Minister of State for that outline. The investment undertaking is one that I have been trying to get my head around for some time. The Minister of State referred to that in his amendment. The list of groups that are exempt from the withholding tax includes investment undertakings but it is the Government's position that Irish collective asset management vehicles, ICAVs,...