Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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201. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on whether any new tax incentive for the game industry should at least include a similar requirement to the film sector tax credit introduced in section 481 of the Finance Act 1997 which requires employers to commit to providing quality employment before availing of the tax credit. [28102/21]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As announced in my Budget 2021 speech, officials in my Department have commenced work on the development of a tax credit for the digital gaming sector. This is a sector that has seen exponential global growth in the past decade, which has not been reflected in the industry growth here in Ireland, and there are potential synergies with our established film and animation sectors to support quality employment in creative and digital arts in Ireland. The intention is to publish legislation to introduce this new credit as part of the 2021 Finance Bill process. It is important to note however, that European Commission State aid approval will be required prior to the introduction of the tax credit. Therefore it is expected that the Finance Bill 2021 legislation will be introduced subject to a commencement order, pending completion of the State aid approval process.

With regard to the provision for quality employment within Section 481, Finance Act 2018 amended the section 481 certification process to provide that the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, after considering an application and applying a set of tests, may issue a Cultural certificate to a producer company stating that a film is qualifying film for the purpose of the credit. One of these tests relates to employment on the qualifying film. Applicants must complete an “Undertaking in respect of quality employment”. This undertaking commits applicants to compliance with all relevant employment legislation in relation to the film being certified.

It is also worth noting that Revenue carries out a comprehensive programme of compliance operations each year across a broad range of economic sectors, including the film industry. Many of the operations are carried out on a multi-agency basis, which can include officials from the Department of Social Protection (DSP) and the Workplace Relations Commission. The primary role of these joint investigation units, JIUs, is to detect non-compliance with tax and duty obligations, which includes non-operation of the PAYE system on foot of bogus self-employment

Officials in my Department are currently engaging with a wide range of industry stakeholders as part of the design process of the tax credit for the digital gaming sector. They will also have regard to relevant transferable elements of the s.481 film credit requirements in setting the criteria for the relief. It is crucial that employee rights are upheld in all industries and my officials will be cognisant of this fact during the development of the tax credit.

It is also important to note that the monitoring of compliance with employment rights legislation is primarily a matter for the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, through the Workplace Relations Commission. While the importance of employment rights will be reflected in the tax credit for the digital game sector, the WRC remains the appropriate avenue to address non-compliance with employment rights legislation.