Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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92. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of businesses that have applied for assistance under the temporary business energy support scheme to date by county; the number of applications that have been successful by county; the estimated value or worth of the support to date for each county, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4968/23]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS) was introduced to support qualifying businesses with increases in their electricity or natural gas costs over the winter months.

Sections 100 to 102 of Finance Act 2022 make provision for the TBESS. The scheme provides support to qualifying businesses in respect of energy costs relating to the period from 1 September 2022 to 28 February 2023. The TBESS is available to eligible 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.  

Qualifying businesses can claim for 40% of the increases in their energy bills between the ‘claim period’, September 2022 to February 2023 and the ‘reference period’, the corresponding calendar month in the previous year. Payments are generally subject to a monthly cap of €10,000 per trade or profession. Businesses which are eligible for TBESS can register for the scheme via Revenue’s online service and comprehensive guidelines on the operation of the scheme are available on the Revenue website.

I am advised by Revenue of the following table which provides a breakdown of registrations and claims by county, as of 27 January 2023.

I am advised by Revenue that applications received from businesses are reviewed to determine eligibility and this accounts for the variance in the figures for ‘all applications’ and ‘approved registrations’.  In addition, Revenue publishes detailed statistical reports in relation to the TBESS which are updated on a weekly basis. These reports are available on Revenue’s website at www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/information-about-revenue/statistics/number-of-taxpayers-and-returns/cost-living.aspx

I encourage businesses to continue to register for, and make claims under the scheme which can be done using Revenue's Online Service.