Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 December 2014
189. Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Finance the number of companies which paid an effective corporation tax rate of less than 10%, that is, a rate of less than 10% after tax write-offs are taken into account; and the proportion of the total number of companies this is. [45921/14]
View answer190. Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Finance the number of companies which paid an effective corporation tax rate of less than 5%, that is, a rate of less than 5% after tax write-offs are taken into account; and the proportion of the total number of companies this is. [45922/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 189 and 190 together.
I would like to point the Deputy to a paper published on the website of the Department of Finance titled Effective Rates of Corporation Tax in Ireland: Technical Paper, April 2014, which comprehensively reviews the different methodologies that are used to calculate the effective rate of tax, and may be viewed at the following link: http://budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2015/Documents/Technical_Paper_Effective_Rates_Corporation_Tax_Ireland.pdf
As there is no single internationally agreed method of measuring the effective rate of Corporation Tax, it is not possible to compile the information requested by the Deputy.
However, the Deputy may be interested to note a piece of work that was carried out by the Revenue Commissioners as part of the Economic Impact Assessment of Ireland's Corporation Tax Policy, which was published on Budget Day. The paper titled Corporation Tax A Note on the Context and Concentration of Payments, is essentially a profile of corporation tax payments. It contains comprehensive analysis of the different component elements of Ireland's corporation tax revenue including a breakdown of tax paid by sector, location and concentration levels (by companies and corporate groups) in the period 2008 through 2012 (as 2012 is the most recent tax year for which full tax returns information is available). This document can be viewed at the following link: http://budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2015/Documents/Corporation_Tax_Context_Concentration_Corporation_Tax_Payments_Revenue.pdf
