Results 5,041-5,060 of 6,295 for speaker:Michael D'Arcy

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: Each September, the various double taxation agreements that Ireland has signed in the prior year are presented before this committee as part of the process of ratification. This year we are seeking to ratify a particularly important international agreement that seeks to modify the application of existing double tax agreements to ensure that they are robust and in line with evolving...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: The treaties are bilaterally agreed between two countries negotiating on equal footing. We seek to find the best deal that works for both parties and that has been consistent over the 74 tax treaties that we have to date. Each country is best placed to decide whether a treaty makes sense for it and what works best in its interest in a treaty. Negotiations on the double taxation agreement...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: The Deputy had a question about capital gains. Could he ask it again please?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: That request was not made, and on that basis, we did not implement it. The request was not made by Ghana in relation to the capital gains. It is a standard clause and it was accepted by both parties. When it did not request it, it was not presented.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: That is correct.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: It was not requested by Ghana.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: It was not requested, so we did not progress it. Double taxation agreements benefit trade and investment. This is our 74th agreement. There are 3,000 in total between countries. If one looks at our EU partners, Germany has more than 100 while the UK has 130 double taxation agreements. Double taxation of companies is not a good thing. It damages business and the objective is to try to...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: In relation to most double taxation agreement treaties, most of them would not facilitate withholding taxes or technical fees, whereas Ghana requested this to be implemented. We agreed to it and felt it was appropriate.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: No, I do not believe so.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: It does not.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: We are doing-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: -----but the Minister is in the midst of the two dates. Did we not sign up to it, in 2015, for example? Now we are waiting to see. If it signs, the Minister will then modify it. Could the Minister not have sought that it insist on this?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: We have 74 of these agreements.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: To date, only nine countries have concluded the-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: That depends on when they passed their legislation through their Houses-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: There are about 100 countries that have signalled that they will take this multi-lateral convention. We are satisfied that if countries do not sign up to the multi-lateral convention, we will deal with them on a bilateral basis. It would be better, and much more facilitating for everybody, if the multi-lateral convention was passed as legislation. That would automatically update the double...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: No. I am saying that we will contact those other countries which have not passed the multi-lateral convention because this is an important part of the OECD, and an important part of the BEPS anti-avoidance of aggressive tax-planning by companies measure. This is a method with which to deal with it. Nobody wants that. The era of aggressive tax-planning internationally is coming to an end....

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: We are satisfied that we have made that contact and made those connections.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: I would like to respond to Deputy Ó Broin by talking about everything we have been doing since 2015, when Ireland was the first country to move on BEPS, anti-tax avoidance, profit-shifting and all the quasi-legal practices that some companies were engaging in. It has to be said that not every company was doing these things. We moved before anybody else did. We moved before we were...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Taxation Agreements: Motions (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: Article 12 is not a technical matter. I did not say in my speech that it was. I said that we chose to opt out of it because we do not know how it will work. The multilateral convention is a legally binding convention. One does not get to choose to opt out of it. We are satisfied that if it works properly, we can opt into it. That is why we are choosing not to accept Article 12 right...