Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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336. To ask the Minister for Finance if consideration will be given to increasing the threshold on VAT for self-employed service providers from €37,500, in view of the fact that the equivalent VAT threshold in the UK is £83,000; the cost to the Exchequer to raise the threshold to €50,000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26124/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Revenue that VAT is governed by the EU VAT Directive (Council Directive 2006/112/EC), with which Irish VAT law must comply. The EU VAT Directive provides that VAT exemption limits may only be raised by Member States to maintain their value in real terms, that is, they may only be increased in line with inflation. The VAT thresholds were increased to their current values on 1 May 2008. As the Central Statistics Office figures show the consumer price index is below the level it reached in 2008, it is not possible to increase the services threshold to €50,000. I would point out, however, that Ireland's VAT exemption for small enterprises supplying services is the seventh highest in the EU while the goods threshold is the third highest.