Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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147. To ask the Minister for Finance the expected revenue from ending the capital gains tax exemption from the sale of property held within REITs. [32544/17]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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149. To ask the Minister for Finance the expected revenue from introducing a minimum DWT rate of 25% on all dividends paid by REITs. [32546/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 147 and 149 together.

I am informed by Revenue that as a result of the low number of REITs established under Irish Law (part 25A of TCA 1997, as amended), they are unable to provide this information due to their obligation to preserve the confidentiality of taxpayer information.

Additionally, information in respect of potential future capital gains from the sale of property of REITs is not available to enable an accurate estimate of the potential gain from the ending of the exemption to be provided. It is also worth noting that REITs are specifically designed to focus on the long-term holding of income producing property. They are not designed to hold development activities, or as a vehicle for short term speculative gains.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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148. To ask the Minister for Finance the expected revenue from ending the DWT exemption for non-resident IREF shareholders from dividends related to the sale of property held within an IREF for five years. [32545/17]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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150. To ask the Minister for Finance the expected revenue from introducing a minimum DWT rate of 25% on all dividends paid by IREFs. [32547/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 148 and 150 together.

Section 23 of the 2016 Finance Act introduced the Irish Real Estate Fund legislation(IREF) to address concerns regarding the use of funds in Irish property based transactions.

The IREF legislation was the subject of lengthy discussions at both Committee and Report stages of Finance Bill 2016, during which it was emphasised that the IREF legislation will trigger behavioural changes which cannot be predicted.

This position still stands and therefore data in respect of potential revenue related to ending the exemption from IREF withholding tax for non resident IREF shareholders, from dividends related to the sale of property held within an IREF for five years, is not available.

Furthermore, to estimate the yield from this amendment into the future requires predicting changes in property prices. That, coupled with the behavioural changes, mean it would be premature for the Department or Revenue to predict the expected revenue from introducing a minimum rate of 25% IREF withholding tax at this point.