The Increased Cost of Business Grant (ICOB) was announced as part of Budget 2024 and will be targeted at Small and Medium sized businesses who operate from a rateable premises. Firms who do not have a rateable premises are not within the scope of this scheme.
It is important that I be clear that this scheme is a once-off grant aid provision and not a commercial rates waiver. It will have no bearing on the commercial rates paid by firms. Firms should continue to pay their commercial rates as normal. I would further note that payment of commercial rates is a matter for local authorities.
The total allocation for this scheme is €250m. The grant is intended to aid firms but is not intended to directly compensate for all increases in wages, or other costs, for every business. In answer to the Deputy’s query as to whether all rateable businesses in this category will receive the grant, I would note that the grant is intended to be a broad-based scheme to apply to businesses paying less than €20,000 in rates. The final details of the scheme are being teased out, but a small number of exclusions may apply, for example to certain public institutions.
The grant is intended to be paid at a rate of up to half the enterprise’s commercial rates bill, subject to a prescribed limit and the grant will be based on the commercial rates that firms were billed in 2023.
My Department will work with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Local Authorities to finalise the details of the grant over the coming weeks and I am planning to bring a Memo forward in due course. As the Deputy is aware, the grant will be paid through local authorities and will be paid in the first quarter of next year.
