Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 74: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will introduce measures to end the ability of high income persons to declare themselves non-resident for tax purposes. [39116/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The question of whether an individual is resident or not-resident in the State for tax purposes is a question of fact, based on the tax legislation.

The Residence Rules were last updated by in the 1994 Finance Act following a comprehensive review of the matter by the Revenue Commissioners and my Department. A person is regarded as resident in Ireland for tax purposes in a particular tax year if he/she spends:

183 days in the State in that year, or

280 days in aggregate in that tax year and the preceding tax year — this aggregation rule does not apply if they are in the country for less than 30 days in the tax year being looked at.

The '183 day' rule that contributes to determining residence in Ireland is also a key rule in other countries including Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal and Sweden.

I asked the Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners last year to monitor the application of the current residency rules. The Revenue Commissioners subsequently reported to me that, of the cases examined, there was no reason to conclude that the individuals concerned failed to comply with the statutory rules governing non-residence.

Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 75: To ask the Minister for Finance the 117 individuals given permission to seek tax relief on pensions with a lifetime cost of over five million euro, prior to the passage of the most recent Finance Bill; the highest amount of tax relief given to any one individual of this group; and the average amount of tax relief given to this group of individuals. [39074/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that 116 individuals applied for Personal Fund Thresholds under the provisions of Section 787O Taxes Consolidation Act (TCA), 1997. However, as the Deputy will appreciate the individuals concerned will not be identified for reasons of confidentiality.

I am further informed that to date, seventy- six certificates confirming the amount of personal fund thresholds have been issued. The remaining forty applications for certificates are at various stages of enquiry by Revenue.

In relation to personal fund thresholds for which certificates have been issued to date

The value of the highest fund is €20,792,709.

The average value of the funds certified is €7,988,409.

The Revenue Commissioners have also informed me that the reference to a figure of 117 individuals applying for Personal Fund Thresholds in my reply to a recent Parliamentary Question from the Deputy was the result of a clerical error in Revenue. The figure should have read 116 individuals.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Question 76: To ask the Minister for Finance the amount of tax foregone under initiatives to promote commercial research and development activity in 2006 to date; and the categories under which such relief has been granted. [39082/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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There are a number of schemes of relief from taxation which seek to assist and encourage research and development activity. These include:

The deduction for capital or revenue expenditure incurred on scientific research;

Capital expenditure on patents can be written off in equal annual instalments over the shorter of 17 years and the life of the asset;

Capital expenditure on the acquisition of rights to computer software and the provision of software can be written off over 8 years at the rate of 12.5% per annum;

The deduction in the year of acquisition of capital expenditure on industrial know- how purchased from an unrelated party, unless the know-how is acquired together with the trade to which it relates;

An exemption from stamp duty on the sale, transfer or other disposition of intellectual property. Intellectual property includes any patent, trademark, copyright, registered design, design right, invention, domain name, supplementary protection certificate or plant breeders rights;

A tax exemption is available, subject to certain conditions, in respect of income arising from a qualifying patent; and

A tax credit of 20% of incremental expenditure incurred by a company on research and development can be offset against its corporation tax liability.

I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that a basis for providing estimates of tax forgone is available only in respect of the tax exemption for income arising from patent royalties and the tax credit available to companies for investment in research and development.

Figures collated to date from income tax returns filed for the income tax year 2004 and from company tax returns filed for accounting periods ending in the year 2004, the latest year available, indicate that some €333 million of tax exempt income arising from patent royalties was returned in 841 individual and corporate claims. This figure would correspond to a maximum Exchequer cost in terms of tax forgone of the order of €62 million.

The most recent year for which complete information is available on the tax credit for research and development is for the accounting year ended 2004. On that basis it is estimated that the total cost to the Exchequer of the tax credit is €70.5 million in respect of 73 claims made against corporation tax liability for that year.

I am also informed by the Revenue Commissioners that claims for the other tax incentives listed are aggregated with other claims in tax returns or in supporting business accounts and could not be distinguished from other reliefs claimed for the purposes of estimating tax forgone. Accordingly, specific information on costs for these items is not available.