International Agreements

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 July 2021

Tuesday, 27 July 2021

Questions (396)

Gerald Nash

Question:

396. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Finance the number of inquiries the Revenue Commissioners or his Department have received from companies or the Government of Malta regarding whether a new company should be deemed Irish resident or Maltese resident under the terms of the Competent Authority Agreement signed between Malta and Ireland in November 2018; the number of these cases the Revenue Commissioners determined that a company should be deemed Irish resident or Maltese resident; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40465/21]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

The Competent Authority Agreement (CAA) under the Ireland-Malta Double Taxation Convention 2008 records that the Irish and Maltese competent authorities for the purpose of that Convention have agreed that, in relation to the tax avoidance structure outlined in the CAA, the Double Taxation Convention’s deeming of a company – incorporated in Ireland but managed in Malta – to be resident in Malta only, does not serve the purposes of the Double Taxation Convention and is not “for those purposes”.

The effect of the CAA is that section 23A(2) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, which can result in a company incorporated in Ireland being regarded as not tax-resident in Ireland, will not apply to an Irish-incorporated but Malta-managed company in the circumstances outlined in the CAA. Accordingly, under section 23A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, such an Irish-incorporated company will be resident in Ireland and the relevant payments to it will come within the charge to Irish corporation tax.

Revenue has set out clearly the effect of the CAA and neither my Department nor Revenue has received any enquiries in relation to it.