On 29 April 2019 my Department launched a Public Consultation on the Research and Development Tax Credit, which is available at the following link:
https://assets.gov.ie/8279/f41bc90b2f1246f0a6e21ee5c0c7e7d3.pdf.
The Department of Finance’s October 2014 “Report on Tax Expenditures” set out Guidelines for best practice in ex ante and ex post evaluation of tax expenditures. In line with those guidelines, a review of the research and development tax credit is being undertaken in 2019. The purpose of this public consultation is to receive stakeholder input that may be used in the course of that review.
As the Deputy will recall, I also confirmed during debates on Finance Bill 2018 that the review would include consideration of matters specific to the accessing of the credit by SME companies. To that end the public consultation document includes a number of specific questions for SMEs and my officials are also examining SME-specific aspects of R&D tax credits in other jurisdictions.
The closing date for the public consultation is 7 June 2019 and I would encourage all interested parties to contribute to this process, to inform deliberations in advance of Budget 2020.