asked the Minister for Finance the number of Irish inventors who have availed of the provisions of section 34 of the Finance Act, 1973, which allows total tax relief in respect of royalties and other income received under licence from inventions which have been patented (a) in the past two years and (b) since 1973 up to two years ago.
Written Answers. - Tax Statistics.
58.
Statistics are not available which would enable the precise information requested by the Deputy to be given. The relevant statistics available show the cumulative total for the number of persons to whom exemption from tax has been accorded under section 34 of the Finance Act, 1973, in respect of prospective and existing income from qualifying patents. The number of such persons as at 1 January 1983 was 20 and the number at present is 32.
59.
asked the Minister for Finance the number of companies currently qualifying for the 10 per cent corporation profits tax rate as computer service companies.
I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that statistics are not recorded in such a manner as would enable the information requested by the Deputy to be provided. Such information could not be obtained without undertaking an inquiry which could be carried out only at disproportionate cost.
Computer services which qualify for the ten per cent scheme are processing and software development services the rendering of which is carried on in the State in the course of a service undertaking in respect of which an employment grant was made by the Industrial Development Authority under section 2 of the Industrial Development (No. 2) Act, 1981. From the latest information available to the authority, 82 companies in the computer sector received IDA grants since 1 January 1984. Those companies would qualify for the 10 per cent rate of corporation tax in respect of income from the provision of computer services which satisfy the criteria set out above.