Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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80. To ask the Minister for Finance the position regarding the principle in the confidence and supply agreement to provide a supportive tax regime for entrepreneurs and the self employed. [30765/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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A number of policy initiatives have been taken in recent Budgets to provide a supportive regime for entrepreneurs and the self-employed.

A new Earned Income Credit was introduced in Budget 2016 and then increased from €550 to €950 in Budget 2017.  The tax credit is available to taxpayers with active self-employed trading or professional income and to business owners or managers who do not have access to the PAYE credit on employment income from their business. The credit provides a significant benefit to small business-owners right across the country including small retailers, publicans, farmers and tradesmen. It is estimated that approximately 147,500 income earners would currently be in a position to benefit from the credit.

As part of the Budget 2017 expenditure package, improvements to the social welfare benefits available to the self-employed were announced.  These include extending access to the invalidity pension and to treatment benefits, and allowing earlier access to the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance.

With regard to Capital Gains Tax, a revised entrepreneur relief which applied a 20% rate of CGT to disposals of qualifying assets up to a limit of €1 million in chargeable gains was introduced in Budget 2016.  Budget 2017 further reduced the applicable rate to 10%.

It was also announced in Budget 2017 that work has commenced on the development of a new, SME-focussed, share-based incentive scheme to be introduced later this year in Budget 2018. Employee participation in their company’s ownership and profits has been shown to increase competitiveness and support employment growth. The new incentive will support Irish SMEs when competing with larger companies to attract and retain key staff.