Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Finance the tax reliefs available to companies; the individual costs to these reliefs to the Exchequer in each of the years 2007 to date in 2012. [47999/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Companies are chargeable to corporation tax on their profits, wherever arising, after taking account of allowable deductions and reliefs as provided for under the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (TCA). The TCA requires a company’s trading profits to be computed in accordance with generally accepted accounting practice subject to any adjustment required by law in computing such profits. Expenses that are incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the trade are deductible in computing trading profits, while allowances are available for capital expenditure on plant and machinery, industrial buildings and certain intangible assets used in the trade, with such allowances treated as a trading expense. It is assumed that the Deputy is only asking about the main tax expenditures available under the TCA to companies operating in Ireland. These reliefs are listed as follows:

-Tax credit for expenditure on research & development - sections 766, 766A and 766B

-Relief for start-up companies - section 486C

-Exemption for profits from occupation of certain woodlands - section 232

-Relief for investment in renewable energy generation – section 486B

The following table shows the estimated corporation tax cost for the reliefs outlined above, for the tax years 2007 to 2010, the latest year available. Due to the Revenue Commissioners obligation to observe confidentiality in relation to the tax affairs of individual companies the cost for investment in renewable energy projects is not shown in the following table.