Results 17,441-17,460 of 35,756 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The amendment is withdrawn. Can I ask for clarification from Revenue?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The granular detail we have in terms of non-household buyers will be able to identify the purchasers of new homes and all homes in the different sub-categories of IREFs and REITs.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 25:In page 29, between lines 2 and 3, to insert the following:“17.The Minister shall within 3 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the taxation of Real Estate Investment Trusts, examining the deductions used by REITs in computing their net profit, outlining the annual effective tax paid on their profits...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Can the Minister of State confirm that remuneration, including bonuses, is deductible for REITs when computing their annual property income?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Are asset management fees deductible from REITs when computing their annual property income? Will the Minister of State clarify if it is asset management fees as opposed to costs related to the operation of the property?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: That goes to the core of the amendment in terms of reducing their taxation. I am looking at I-RES's accounts. The Minister of State has mentioned I-RES. None of this is secret because these are publicly available. It tells us about the revenue from investment properties of €38 million. It deducts property taxes of €581,000, which is not a huge amount, but no other landlord...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: We also know that dividends paid out by a REIT on its rental income are subject to 20% dividend withholding tax. We also know that in many cases that 20% does not apply because of tax treaties. The Ireland-US tax treaty holds less than 10% of REITs and the dividend withholding tax goes down to 15% and so on. I have looked at the three REITs in the State and their annual reports and...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: This is investment in Irish property. Due to the structure we have allowed for REITs, 85% of investment in them is from foreign investments.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: On book value, the profits recorded by these three REITs came to €329 million in 2016. Of this, they paid €8 million in dividend withholding tax. That is wrong. It is not that they have done anything wrong. The Oireachtas has done something wrong by creating this structure. Recalling the earlier conversation, these are the guys who are outbidding first-time buyers. They...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: That is what my amendments require. If a longer period is required for that work to be done, as long as it is in advance of the next budget, then it will be appropriate. However, I do not want, and this is no reflection on the Minister of State, us having this conversation now but something different than what the committee understood emerging nine months later. This amendment captures all...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Will the report by the tax strategy group cover all of the issues I have raised in my amendments?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Will the Minister elaborate on what that will that relate to?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: That is fine.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Is this a technical amendment or is it something of substance?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I tabled an amendment to section 21 that would have followed through on issues I raised during the earlier budgetary process to the effect that this measure, which allows for a capital allowance to be set off 100% of the profit recorded by a trading company, would revert to the pre-2014 position where only 80% would apply. I welcomed the pre-2014 position. I will go into details in terms of...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister has said the companies at the centre of this have a long-standing relationship with the State. I accept that the Apple company in Cork that employs more than 4,000 people has been here for a long time. Hopefully, it will stay for an equally long time. We are not talking about the company for which the employees work; we are talking about the other companies. Two of them...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Section 21(1)(a) clarifies the issue of a traded company and what would be treated as a relevant trade. Can the Minister speak as to what effect this will have on certain companies? Why is this clarification needed and will it capture people now or require them to pay more tax or how will it work?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: It is set out in section 21, which is the amendment to section 291A of Principal Act (intangible assets) where it states:(1) Section 291A of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (5), by inserting the following paragraph after paragraph (b):“(c) Where the trade of a company consists wholly of the carrying on of relevant activities (within the meaning of paragraph...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: And-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: What does the Minister mean? Will it now be taxed? What is the implication? All of the trade or-----