Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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120. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of persons who have availed of the start your own business relief scheme since its inception; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5364/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, I introduced the Start Your Own Business initiative in Finance (No. 2) Act 2013, which provides an exemption from Income Tax for individuals who have been unemployed for a period of 12 months and who start a new, unincorporated business between 25 October 2013 and 31 December 2016.

An exemption from Income Tax is provided on profits up to a maximum of €40,000 per annum for the first two years of trading. However, USC and PRSI continue to be payable. If a loss is incurred, then loss relief is available in the normal manner. 

The business must be unincorporated i.e., it must not be registered as a company. In order to claim this relief, the individual must file a tax return notwithstanding that there may be no liability to tax.

This relief does not require pre-approval. Instead, the relief is claimed by completing the relevant section of the individual's annual Income Tax return form in late October of each year. As a result, figures on the level of the initial take-up of the scheme will not be available until later this year.