Results 42,061-42,080 of 46,353 for speaker:Simon Harris

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: Yes, and every other Deputy in the House. My exchange today has been with Deputies Tóibín and Boyd Barrett. They have rightly highlighted the need for certain information to be available to Revenue and have expressed concerns about the lack of information available. Extra information will be available to the Revenue Commissioners and other tax authorities that we did not have...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: I thought that was quite a political answer.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: It is quite prudent.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: Let me be very clear on my position because I do not want the Deputy to misrepresent it. I will be clear on the Government's position in rejecting his amendment, which is what we are debating. If we passed his amendment he would make sure the Revenue Commissioners would have less information available to them to make important decisions on behalf of the Irish taxpayer. That is why I am...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: That is exactly where I stand on the Deputy's amendment. He is asking me-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: Deputy Tóibín has asked me a follow-up question which I am very happy to answer, although it is not directly linked to his amendment which we cannot support. We will wait and see the outcome of the impact assessment, but I remain to be convinced about the benefit of taxpayer information being publicised. I want to have an independent and robust tax authority that has all the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: If we decide we are going to make public confidential tax information, we are giving every other tax authority absolute and justifiable reasons not to give us the information the Revenue Commissioners need. That is where we stand.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: In what regard have they blackmailed us?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: Of whom are we afraid?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: I presume, and maybe I should not, that all Deputies welcome the agreement at OECD level on country-by-country reporting that this State will, hopefully in the coming weeks, put into law through this Finance Bill. It will empower the independent taxation authority - the Revenue Commissioners - to have information available to it. The Deputy was at pains to point out examples of where such...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: Let me clarify. The OECD BEPS process agreed country-by-country reporting on the condition that the information remained confidential, as all taxpayers' information remains. If the Oireachtas decides to make such information public, it will untangle the BEPS agreement and allow other taxation authorities not to give that information to the Revenue Commissioners because we are not in...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: In fairness to the Deputy, his support was "ish".

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: There is an ongoing EU process as well as an impact assessment. Let us see where they go. I will make a point about HSBC because the Deputy was not factually correct. The Committee of Public Accounts probably received information regarding HSBC, but it is important to point out that there were three prosecutions in this country in respect of issues arising from that situation. My...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: It is an important question. My understanding from consulting officials is that this is not a response to a Revenue-specific problem or an issue highlighted by the Revenue Commissioners to the Government. Rather, it transposes the EU parent-subsidiary directive into law. I have no knowledge of individual cases or problems.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that they are not aware of any case and that this is a common anti-abuse measure. That is the best advice available to me. This transposes an EU directive.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: I do not propose to go fully into the report unless the Deputy wishes me to in a later exchange. Obviously there are lots of different figures quoted for effective corporation tax rates, but the report, which was co-authored by Mr. Seamus Coffey and the Department of Finance, found that the effective corporate tax rate in this country was 10.7% or 10.9%, and that is documented in the report...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: I am merely pointing out that the statistics the Deputy quotes are not statistics that I accept. I am not accepting them on the basis of the report that the Department published and co-authored with Mr. Seamus Coffey. Let me respond directly to the amendment from Deputies Tóibín and Doherty. At 12.5%, as we have already discussed at length, Ireland has one of the most...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: I move amendment No. 63:In page 60, to delete lines 7 to 38, and in page 61, to delete line 1 and substitute the following:"597AA.(1) (a) In this section—'51 per cent subsidiary' has the same meaning as it has in section 9(1)(a); 'development land' has the same meaning as it has in section 648; 'group' means a holding company and one or more companies which are 51 per cent...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: I wish to notify the committee of the intention by the Minister for Finance to bring forward amendments relating to the CGT entrepreneur relief on Report Stage. One of the amendments will relate to a further modification of the minimum shareholding requirement in the entrepreneur relief provisions and a second amendment will relate to section 542 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, to deal with...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2015)

Simon Harris: I am informed by Revenue there have been no specific cases but that it is a prudent anti-avoidance measure to include in the budget each year. As the Deputy is aware, we try, in consultation with Revenue, to identify areas where we should beef up anti-avoidance and this is one of those areas. However, the Revenue Commissioners advise me they are not aware of any specific cases.