Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 28 November 2018
122. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Finance the number of participants in the employment and investment incentive scheme in each of the years 2011 to 2017 and to date in 2018 in tabular form. [49764/18]
View answer123. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Finance the estimated cost in a full year based on latest data at hand of adapting the employment and investment incentive by measures (details supplied) in tabular form, [49765/18]
View answer124. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Finance the estimated cost in a full year based on latest data at hand of adapting the employment and investment incentive by a proposal (details supplied) in tabular form. [49766/18]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 122 to 124, inclusive, together.
As EII is a tax relief designed to assist companies raise risk equity financing, I assume that when referring to participants, the Deputy is referring to companies who raised funds under the EII scheme. I am advised by Revenue that details of the companies who are approved under EII and SURE are published on the Revenue website:
https://www.revenue.ie/en/starting-a-business/documents/bes-scs-shares.csv.
This was last updated in September 2018. The number of companies which issued shares during the years 2011 to 2018, and which have been approved by Revenue as Qualifying Companies are:
|
Year |
No. of companies |
Amount raised in year |
|
2011 |
322 |
€42m |
|
2012 |
314 |
€43m |
|
2013 |
417 |
€59m |
|
2014 |
501 |
€85m |
|
2015 |
496 |
€104m |
|
2016 |
361 |
€111m |
|
2017* |
87 |
€23m |
|
2018** |
3 |
€2m |
* This table is based on the data as at 1 September 2018. Companies which issued shares in 2017 and were approved after that date are not included in the above analysis.
** Companies which issued shares in 2018 will not generally apply for Revenue approval until 2019.
With regards to enabling individual investors with tax relief of 30% in respect of investments of up to: €250,000, €500,000, €750,000, €1 million, €1.25 million; €1.5 million; €1.75 million; €2 million per annum; EII currently allows tax relief up to a maximum investment of €150,000 each year. Those who invest more than €150,000 in a year can carry any unused amount forward for use in future years. I am advised by Revenue that most taxpayers do not make the maximum investment allowed. The majority of the investments are for less than €50,000. As such, there is therefore no basis on which to develop a reliable estimate uptake if the maximum investment were increased as described by the Deputy.
I am further advised by Revenue that, if the EII was altered to allow for the entirety of the 40% of the investment to be claimed in year one, the additional cost of the scheme would be some €11m in a full year, based on 2016 data. The cost of the scheme in that year was €32 million. To calculate the cost of disregarding the relief for USC liability also, would require a significant manual review of records, which it is not feasible to undertake. Issues concerning PRSI policy are matters in the first instance for my colleague, the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection.
