Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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502. To ask the Minister for Finance the cost of increasing the rent tax credit with the credit equivalent to 8.3% of an individual’s annual rent with a minimum credit of €1,250 and a maximum credit of €2,500, per year, clarifying both the full cost and the net cost if the Government has any funding allocated for rent relief in 2026. [45027/25]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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503. To ask the Minister for Finance the cost of increasing the rent tax credit with the credit equivalent to 8.3% of an individual’s annual rent, with a minimum credit of €1,500 and a maximum credit of €2,500, per year, clarifying both the full cost and the net cost if the Government has any funding allocated for rent relief in 2026. [45028/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 502 and 503 together.

The most recent set of fiscal projections, published in the Annual Progress Report in May, incorporate an estimate of €350 million for the Rent Tax Credit (RTC) in respect of the year of assessment 2025. This estimate is an estimate of costs rather than an allocation.

The estimated first and full year costs of increasing the RTC in a manner suggested by the questions for:

• a minimum credit of €1,250 and a maximum credit of €2,500 per year, are €120m (first year) and €135m (full year); and
• a minimum credit of €1,500 and a maximum credit of €2,500 per year, are €185m (first year) and €210m (full year).

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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504. To ask the Minister for Finance the revenue that would raised by introducing a 25% or 50% cap respectively on corporation tax relief utilised in a single year by NAMA-participating banks, in first and full year terms; and if it has been introduced in the year 2024. [45029/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Due to Revenue’s obligation to protect the confidentiality of taxpayer data, as provided for in Section 851A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, it is not possible to provide the data requested by the deputy, due to the low number of taxable entities involved.

Further detail is available in Revenue’s Statistical Disclosure Control Protocol, published on the Revenue website at www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/information-about-revenue/statistics/about/statistical-disclosure-control.aspx

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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505. To ask the Minister for Finance the estimated revenue raised by introducing a 25% or 50% cap respectively on corporation tax relief utilised in a single year by all banks, in first- and full-year terms; and had it been introduced in the year 2024. [45030/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As set out in the response to this question on 17 July, the Deputy will be aware that loss relief for corporation tax is a long-standing feature of the Irish corporate tax system and a standard feature of corporation tax systems in all OECD countries.

This loss relief system recognises the fact that a business cycle runs over several years and that it would be unfair to tax income earned on profits in one year and not allow relief for losses incurred in another.

As I've mentioned before, loss relief works by allowing a deduction for losses incurred in one accounting period against profits earned in another period.

The revenue which would be raised by introducing a 25% or 50% cap on corporation tax relief utilised in a single year by all banks would be dependent on the profitability of the banks in any particular year and the amount of losses available to each individual bank.

I refer you to the estimates provided by revenue on the 2023 figures had such a restriction been in place is set out in the table below:

The Deputy will recall that, in 2018, Department of Finance officials produced a detailed technical note for the Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and Taoiseach on the subject of both bank losses and corporation tax losses more generally (see www.gov.ie/en/publication/436ff7-technical-note-on-the-potential-consequences-of-changes-to-the-treat/).

The technical note considered in some detail the potential implications of restricting the use of losses carried forward, or the introduction of a specific time limit or “sunset clause” on loss relief, for Irish banks, for the wider banking sector, or for the corporate sector as a whole. Among other considerations, it examined the possible effect of such a restriction on consumers, with the probability that an increased cost base for the banks would be passed on to the consumer in the form of higher fees, higher interest rates on loans, or lower deposit rates.