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Employment Investment Incentive Scheme

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 November 2012

Tuesday, 20 November 2012

Questions (203)

Eoghan Murphy

Question:

203. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 129 of 8 November 2012, if he will consider an investment scheme that applied to all businesses below a certain size, so that this would not skew the market towards one area, and would not risk starving larger companies of capital in view of the fact that the amounts being considered would be relatively low say something similar to the film section scheme for example but not confining the relief to one’s own tax band. [51161/12]

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Written answers

I assume the Deputy is referring to the provision of a tax incentive to micro businesses which would be more attractive than that available under the Employment and Investment Incentive. As indicated in my previous response to the Deputy on this topic, EII is already available to the majority of SMEs including micro businesses. My concern in relation to providing a more attractive tax incentive for micro businesses is that it would draw investments away from other small businesses that do not meet the definition of a micro business which includes having less than 10 employees. It is likely that any incentive scheme that is more attractive than another, in terms of tax relief or reduced risk, would draw investors in the first instance to it. Only where such investors had access to greater amounts of capital to invest than allowed under the terms of the more attractive scheme, would they consider making other investments. In this regard, it is worth pointing out that the high earners' restriction imposes a limit on the amount of specified tax reliefs that can be claimed in a single tax year of €80,000 or 20% of adjusted income, whichever is higher.

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