Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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332. To ask the Minister for Finance the cost to the Exchequer of a measure (details supplied), in tabular form. [28734/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Revenue that sections 766 and 766A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 provides for a tax credit in respect of qualifying expenditure on Research & Development (“R&D”).

The R&D tax credit must be used initially to reduce the Corporation Tax liability of the company for the accounting period in which the relevant expenditure is incurred. Any unused amount may be carried forward and used to reduce the Corporation Tax of following accounting periods. However where an excess remains, instead of carrying forward that excess, a company may claim to use it to reduce the Corporation Tax of the preceding accounting period.  If any excess still remains it may still be carried forward and used to reduce the Corporation Tax of succeeding accounting periods. In the event that there is no Corporation Tax liability in the current year, the company may claim to have the amount of that excess paid to them by Revenue in 3 instalments over a period of 33 months from the end of the accounting period in which the expenditure was incurred.

I understand that the Deputy is enquiring about the cost of an automatic refund of the tax credit, up to €70,000, in the case of a company which has already produced audited accounts.

I am advised by Revenue, that due to the manner in which it is refunded, any cost associated with changes to the credit as set out by the Deputy would merely reflect a timing difference in the cost rather than any additional cost to the Exchequer and it is not possible to accurately estimate the effect of the proposal.