Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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191. To ask the Minister for Finance the cost to the Exchequer of the relief from income tax or corporation tax in respect of expenditure on approved buildings and or approved gardens under section 482 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 in each year since 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36806/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Section 482 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (TCA) was introduced for the purpose of assisting the preservation of our built heritage, by giving tax relief to the owners or occupiers of significant buildings or gardens on the expenditure incurred by them on the repair, maintenance and restoration of those properties. Section 482 TCA provides tax relief from income tax at the marginal rate and from corporation tax and is available to the owner or occupier of an approved building and/or garden in respect of certain expenditure incurred during a chargeable period on repair, maintenance and restoration of the property.

This scheme applies to an approved building, an approved garden existing independently, or an approved object contained within the house or garden, to which reasonable access is afforded to the public or where the building is a guest house approved by Fáilte Ireland.

A building or garden must receive a determination from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage that it is a building or garden which is intrinsically of significant horticultural, scientific, historical, architectural or aesthetic interest, before it can qualify for tax relief. In addition, to qualify, a determination must have been issued by Revenue that reasonable access to the building or garden is afforded to the public.

Revenue publishes a list of properties that have received determinations under section 482 in the first quarter of each year. This list is available on the Revenue website at: www.revenue.ie/en/personal-tax-credits-reliefs-and-exemptions/documents/section-482-heritage-properties.pdf

Revenue issues an annual registration form at the end of each year in respect of every property appearing on the published list, to establish whether the conditions required for reasonable access continue to be met.

The cost to the Exchequer of the Income Tax relief in respect of expenditure on significant buildings and gardens under s.482 of the Tax Consolidation Act 1997, for the period 2016 to 2022 (the latest year for which data is available), is as follows:

I am informed by Revenue that the cost of the relief from corporation tax is not available. Qualifying expenditure, for section 482, is treated for tax purposes as if it were a loss in a separate trade and it is not possible to distinguish from corporation tax returns losses relating to this expenditure and other separate trades.