Results 18,401-18,420 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Rebates (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that section 134(6), Finance Act 1992 provides for a repayment of Vehicle Registration Tax where the deletion of a vehicle from the register is warranted by exceptional circumstances which arose within 7 working days after the registration of the vehicle by Revenue and where the vehicle has not been "motor taxed" under the Finance (Excise Duties)...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Exchequer Revenue (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 246 and 248 together. At end-2014 the gross National Debt under the management of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) stood at €197.1 billion. Where there are non-euro borrowings such as those from the UK Treasury and International Monetary Fund (IMF) which form part of the EU/IMF Programme of Financial Support as well as some short-term...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Central Bank of Ireland (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I have been informed by the Central Bank that as at 31 December 2014, the Central Bank held less than 1% of its total investment portfolio in foreign currencies. Given the low level of exposure to foreign currency and the Central Bank's hedging strategy, recent major currency fluctuations have not had a material impact on the Central Bank's financial reserves. While the Question seeks...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Bank Charges (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: All credit institutions in Ireland are independent commercial entities. I have no statutory role in relation to the charges applied by credit institutions. Section 149 of the Consumer Credit Act 1995 requires that credit institutions, prescribed credit institutions and bureaux de change must make a submission to the Central Bank if they wish to introduce any new customer charges or increase...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council was established on a statutory basis on the 31 December 2012 under the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2012. The Act sets out the Council's functions, which can only be amended through primary legislation. Further, Regulation (EU) 473/2013 introduced a requirement that draft budgets and the stability programme update must be based on macroeconomic forecasts...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Economic Statements (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: Under European Council Regulation 1175/2011, each Member State is required to present an annual update of its Stability Programme to the European Commission and European Council by end-April. The Stability Programme Update (SPU) sets out the Government's budgetary objectives and the main economic assumptions underpinning them for the following three years or - as applies to Ireland - in...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Home Renovation Incentive Scheme Applications (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: As the Deputy is aware, the Home Renovation Incentive was introduced on 25 October 2013 for repairs, renovations and improvements carried out on a person's main residence. The scheme was extended in the recent Budget to include repairs, renovations and improvements carried out on rental properties whose owners are liable to income tax. Only works carried out by a tax compliant contractor...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Credit Register Establishment (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I am informed by the Central Bank of Ireland that it is nearing the conclusion of a public procurement process to select a partner to build and operate the Central Credit Register (CCR) on its behalf. The strategy pursued has been to seek proposals from experienced operators with:- a deep understanding of the business processes and specialised data processing involved, in particular, to match...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Negative Equity Mortgages Data (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: Negative equity occurs when the price of a property falls below the value of the outstanding mortgage secured on that property. While regular data is not collected on the number of persons whose homes are in negative equity, the Deputy may wish to note that there has been some independent assessment of the issue conducted recently by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). The...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Applications Approvals (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: The Central Bank has advised me that a borrower who has mortgage approval in principle, supported by a full credit assessment, prior to the effective date of the new macro prudential regulations on residential mortgage lending, will not be impacted by these regulations for the duration of the mortgage approval.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Applications Approvals (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: The Central Bank is responsible for formulating and implementing macro prudential policy. In the context of negative equity, the Central Bank considers that it is necessary to provide for an exemption for households in such a situation to avoid unduly limiting mobility for such borrowers. The Central Bank has indicated that there is currently little new lending to such borrowers (less than...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Reliefs Application (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that a wide range of statistical information is available on their new, enhanced, statistics webpage at . There is a section of that page dedicated to Income Tax and Corporation Tax data at in which information on the cost of credits, allowances and reliefs for the years 2004 to 2012 (the most recent figures available) can be found, under the heading...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Medical Card Data (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that, while not directly available from tax records, recent data exchanges between Revenue and the HSE has allowed medical card holders to be identified and linked to Revenue's taxpayer records. On this basis, for the income tax year 2012 (the most recent tax year for which data are available), the number of income earners who had a medical card is...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Universal Social Charge Yield (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 259 to 269, inclusive, together. I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the breakdown of the Universal Social Charge (USC) receipts requested by the Deputy is not available. It is not possible to isolate the USC paid on certain ranges of income, nor are detailed data for 2014 available as yet. However, the Deputy may be interested to note that a wide...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Rebates (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I am advised by Revenue that Section 960H of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (as amended) provides that where a taxpayer is due a refund of tax, the Commissioners can offset that amount in full, or in part, to satisfy outstanding liabilities in any other tax head. Any balance (of the refund) that remains after the offset is completed is repaid to the taxpayer. With specific regard to...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the legislation governing the operation of appropriate taxon interest earned on deposits held in the State, referred to as Deposit Interest Retention Tax (DIRT), is set out in Chapters 4 and 5 of Part 8 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (the Act). Except in the circumstances listed below, as and from the 1 January 2014 DIRT is deducted at a...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: European Fund for Strategic Investments (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: As the Deputy is aware the legislative proposal for the European Fund for Strategic Infrastructure (EFSI) was only published on 13 January last. The Working Group discussions under the Latvian Presidency commenced as recently as 19 January and matters such as the Governance arrangements for the EFSI are an important part of those discussions. At this stage given the ongoing discussion amongst...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: European Central Bank (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: The tasks of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the Eurosystem are laid down in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). They are specified in the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank. The Statute is a protocol attached to the TFEU. The Deputy refers to Article 127(2) of the TFEU which defines the basic tasks to be...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Real Estate Investment Trusts (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 274 and 275 together. From inception to the end of 2014, NAMA and its debtors and receivers were involved in more than 4,000 transactions involving sales of Irish assets. These transactions yielded total sales proceeds of €5.5 billion. Under Section 202 of the NAMA Act 2009, NAMA is prohibited from disclosing confidential information. Confidential...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: Where a couple is cohabiting, rather than married or in a civil partnership, each partner is treated for the purposes of income tax as a separate and unconnected individual. Because they are treated separately for tax purposes, credits and tax bands cannot be transferred from one partner to the other. Cohabitants do not have the same legal rights and obligations as a married couple or...