Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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107. To ask the Minister for Finance if the temporary business energy support scheme to help businesses with their energy costs will be applied to creches and montessori schools to support their rising energy costs this winter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50110/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Details of the new Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS) are set out in Finance Bill 2022. The scheme will provide support to qualifying businesses in respect of energy costs relating to the period from 1 September 2022 to 28 February 2023. The scheme is designed to be compliant with the EU state aid Temporary Crisis Framework and will need to be approved by the EU Commission in advance of making payments.

The TBESS will be available to tax compliant businesses carrying on a trade or profession the profits of which are chargeable to tax under Case I or Case II of Schedule D where they meet the eligibility criteria. Charities and sporting bodies that carry on certain activities which would be chargeable to tax under Case I or II of Schedule D but for an available exemption are included in the scope of the scheme. The scheme will operate on a self-assessment basis.

A business in the childcare sector would generally be regarded as carrying on a trade or profession chargeable to tax under Case I or Case II of Schedule D, and therefore would be an eligible business for the purposes of the scheme.

For example, a business involved in childminding will generally be regarded as trading and therefore taxable under Case I of Schedule D whereas a specialist Montessori school could be regarded as carrying on a trade or a profession depending on the facts and circumstances. In either case, the profits are chargeable to tax under Case I or II of Schedule D and therefore would be within scope of the TBESS where all the eligibility criteria are met.

Any amount charged on an energy bill for a claim period that is not expended wholly and exclusively for the purpose of the trade or profession must be deducted from the relevant energy bill amount for the claim period when calculating the eligible cost. This could be the case where, for example, a single electricity connection supplies both the business and a domestic dwelling.