Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 24 Apr 1996

Vol. 464 No. 4

Written Answers. - Shareholding Schemes.

Eric J. Byrne

Question:

69 Mr. E. Byrne asked the Minister for Finance the number of employee shareholding schemes currently in place; the number that have been agreed in respect of each year since 1982; the number of employees that have taken out shares; the total value of the share-holdings by employees; and the tax forgone by the Revenue Commissioners from such schemes. [8377/96]

Minister for Finance (Mr. Quinn)

The employee shareholding schemes in question are the profits sharing and share purchase schemes.

The most recent relevant information available on profit sharing schemes is in respect of a total of 134 such schemes approved to 5 April 1994 for tax relief under the provisions of Chapter IX of the Finance Act, 1982. These schemes are currently in operation in the sense that they have been approved and that shares have been or may be appropriated to employees in accordance with the approval terms. The following table which is based on returns made by employers, sets out the information requested in relation to approved schemes in so far as it is available.

Year ended 5 April	Number of new schemes approved	Number of employees participating	Estimated value of shares appropriated	Estimated cost of tax relief
			£ million	£ million
1983	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil
1984	2	7,478	2.6	1.1
1985	6	6,424	2.5	1.1
1986	7	5,465	5.3	2.3
1987	13	16,522	7.5	3.2
1988	18	19,206	11.9	5.1
1989	21	22,855	14.8	6.1
1990	20	12,175	10.4	4.1
1991	22	11,267	8.6	3.3
1992	16	14,866	11.6	4.5
1993	5	12,511	10.3	3.7
1994	4	14,902	11.2	4.1

These figures are based on returns received to date and are subject to adjustment on receipt of late or amended returns, especially in respect of the more recent years.

I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that statistics are not available which would enable the precise information requested by the Deputy to be provided in respect of share purchase schemes qualifying for tax relief under the provisions of section 12 of the Finance Act, 1986. It is tentatively estimated that over the period from 1987 to date share purchases by employees valued at about £4.1 million were accorded tax relief at an approximate cost to the Exchequer of £1.9 million. The number of applications approved was of the order of 6,300 but this number includes repeated counts of some employees who subscribed for shares in different years within their statutory life time limits.