Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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234. To ask the Minister for Finance the estimated projected cost of extending the 9% VAT rate on electricity and gas for the remainder of 2023; the estimated cost for the extension in January and February 2023; the estimated additional average cost to a household and a business from the higher VAT rate applying for the remaining ten months in 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48530/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Revenue that traders are not required to identify the VAT yield generated from the supply of specific goods or services in their periodic VAT returns. Therefore, it is not possible to provide an accurate costing for the potential measures outlined.

However, tentative estimates using third-party data of the total cost arising from extending the current arrangements, whereby electricity and gas supply are subject to the second reduced rate of VAT, are contained in the first three rows of the table below.

Revenue do not have the necessary data to estimate average household or business costs, but an estimate of the total VAT revenue raised from applying the higher rate (13.5 per cent) for the ten months from 1 March to 31 December 2023 is also provided in the final row.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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235. To ask the Minister for Finance the estimated projected cost of the Special Assignee Relief Programme in 2023; the reason that no cost has been attributed to extending the Programme in Budget 2023 documentation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48531/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Special Assignee Relief Programme (SARP) is an income tax incentive designed to help reduce the cost to employers of assigning skilled individuals in their companies from abroad, to take up positions in the Irish-based operations of their employer or an associated company, thereby facilitating the creation of jobs and the development and expansion of businesses in Ireland.

The following table sets out the Exchequer cost of SARP in each of the years from 2012 to 2020 (the most recent year for which data are available):

The cost of SARP is accounted for in the tax base. As such, it is appropriate to indicate a nil cost against the extension of the measure as per the Tax Policy Change booklet for Budget 2023.

As regards the increase in the threshold income to avail of SARP from €75,000 to €100,000 for new entrants, my Department considers that, over time, all other things being equal, the eventual yield from this change could be of the order of €5 million. However, it is likely to be some years before such savings might materialise.