Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I hope somebody will be able to get them. I knew I brought them over. I am sorry about that. I appreciate the Senator's intervention. It is important that people have a copy of the script. Qualifying businesses will be able to make a claim for a payment calculated on the basis of three weeks at 10% of the first €20,000 weekly turnover, and 5% thereafter, based on average turnover for 2019, and will be subject to a maximum payment of €15,000.

This new scheme is designed to support some of the businesses worst affected by the pandemic, especially those that continue to be significantly impacted even after the easing of public health restrictions. Anchors necessarily included in the CRSS, such as the requirement to have a fixed business premises and that access to this premises was restricted or prohibited, are not included in the BRSS. That is very important issue that many raised with regard to businesses that were impacted but which did not have a business premises which was restricted during the course of the pandemic. That will help many wholesalers and so on who do not have a premises people come to. Therefore, businesses such as taxi drivers and musicians who meet the eligibility criteria will receive this payment. In addition, the scheme will be open to certain sectors which did not qualify for CRSS because of specific tax treatments, such as charities and sporting bodies. It is intended that the registration for the BRSS will open in September.

Section 6 provides that the reduced rate of VAT of 9% applying on a temporary basis to hospitality and tourism related goods and services will be extended until 31 August 2022. That represents quite an extension at this stage. The next sections of the Bill, sections 7 to 12, deal with tax debt warehousing. The period where liabilities arising can be warehoused will be extended to the end of 2021 for all eligible taxpayers, with an interest free period during 2022. Overpayments of the EWSS will also be included in the scheme. Debt warehousing has provided more than 86,000 individual businesses with vital liquidity support. At the end of June, some €2.4 billion of tax debt had been warehoused. The main components were VAT at €1.3 billion and employer PAYE at €1.1 billion.

I will now talk about the 10% rate of stamp duty charge which was introduced through a financial resolution on 19 May 2021. The Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 was amended by the insertion of a new section 31E titled "Stamp duty on certain acquisitions of residential property".The purpose of this new stamp duty is to provide a significant disincentive to the practice of multiple purchases by institutional investors of large parts or, indeed, of whole housing estates before they reach the market, thus denying first-time buyers the opportunity to purchase a home. It does this by imposing a 10% charge where ten or more liable residential units are required in any 12-month period. However, apartments are exempt from this charge, as are houses purchased by local authorities and approved housing bodies. There is a requirement to put this resolution on a permanent statutory footing within four months of commencement. I am doing this through section 13 of this Bill. Senators should note that aside from a number of technical amendments, this section reflects what is contained in the financial resolution.

In addition to the above, I bring Senators’ attention to two significant changes being made in relation to the stamp duty exemption in the Bill. First, section 14 provides for an exemption from the 10% stamp duty rate for private sector participants in the mortgage-to-rent scheme. That scheme provides for an approved housing body or, since 2018, a private company, to acquire ownership of a property with an unsustainable private mortgage from a lender if it enables the householder to remain in their home as a social housing tenant. While approved housing bodies were exempt from the 10% rate under the terms of the financial resolution, the private company aspect was not. Section 14 corrects that.

Second, section 15 was introduced to this Bill by way of a Dáil Committee Stage amendment. It provides that where a residential unit that is subject to the new rate of stamp duty is acquired and then within 24 months is leased to a local authority for social housing purposes, the stamp duty paid over and above the pre-existing rates that apply to acquisitions of residential property will be refunded. This provision, contained in both sections 14 and 15, was introduced on the advice of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O’Brien.

In conclusion, the Government has kept its promise that there will be no cliff-edge supports to businesses. It is extending and enhancing the supports to businesses as they reopen. The new business resumption support scheme will provide additional support to businesses that have been worst affected by the restrictions imposed due to the pandemic. The EWSS and CRSS will be extended. The tax debt warehousing scheme will be extended to the end of this year, with no interest charged throughout 2022. In addition, the Bill places the financial resolution agreed in the Dáil on 19 May 2021 on a permanent legislative footing and addresses certain other aspects of stamp duty from multiple purchases of houses. I commend this Bill to the House.