Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 May 2019
54. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the annual cost of the research and development tax credit for the previous five years; the number of companies that availed of the scheme in each of these years by multinational and SME companies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23145/19]
View answer55. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the annual cost of the knowledge development box in each year since its creation; the number of companies that availed of the scheme in each of these years by multinational and SME companies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23146/19]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 54 and 55 together.
I am advised by Revenue that the annual cost of the Research and Development (R&D) tax credit and the number of companies that availed of it for years up to 2017, the most recent year for which data is available, is published on the Revenue website at the following link:
https://www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/information-about-revenue/statistics/tax-expenditures/r-and-d-tax-credits.aspx .
The available information in respect of multinational and SME companies is split between companies administered by Revenue’s Large Corporates Division (LCD) and non-LCD companies. Most of the companies administered by LCD are multinational companies. Also shown is the distribution of the R&D claims by the number of employees of the companies.
A review of the research and development tax credit is being undertaken by my Department in 2019. This review will examine the interaction of SMEs with the credit as part of its scope.
In relation to the Knowledge Development Box (KDB), the number of claimants and cost are published in Revenue’s recent paper on 2018 Corporation Tax payments and 2017 tax returns, which is available on the Revenue website at link https://www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/documents/research/ct-analysis-2019.pdf (Table 13 shows the KDB claims). Due to the small numbers of taxpayers claiming KDB, Revenue cannot comment further on the size of the claimant companies.
