Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 November 2013
136. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Finance his views on whether the EIIS is too complicated and if he will provide an update on the changes that are planned to improve take-up of this scheme in 2014; and the way its effectiveness is to be measured throughout the year. [46002/13]
View answerThe Employment and Investment Incentive (EII) is a tax incentive which provides income tax relief for investment in certain corporate trades. Relief is initially available to an individual at 30%, with a further 11% tax relief available where it has been proven that employment levels have increased at the company at the end of the holding period. The EII commenced on 25 November 2011. Prior to this the Business Expansion Scheme (BES) was in operation. As part of Budget 2013 I announced a 10 point tax reform plan to help small business. One of the measures in this plan was the extension of the EII from its current expiration date of the end of 2013 to the end of 2020 in order to provide certainty to investors and companies.
In addition to the extension of the scheme, I also announced the inclusion of hotels, guest houses and self-catering accommodation in the EII, subject to certain conditions.
In the recent Budget I also announced that the EII will be removed from the high earners' restriction for a period of three years in the hope that it will stimulate further investment in SMEs.
I do not consider the scheme to be too complicated. When the EII was introduced in 2011, it greatly simplified the application process when compared to the process that had been in place under the BES.
