Today, Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe T.D., and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath T.D. presented Budget 2023. We have summarised the key measures included in this “cost of living” Budget including Ireland’s headline Corporate Tax rate remaining unchanged at 12½%. A number of welcome personal tax and global mobility employment tax measures to benefit Irish employees and international assignees include an extension to the Special Assignee Relief Programme (SARP), to the Key Employee Engagement Programme (KEEP) and the Foreign Earnings Deduction (FED). The key Corporate Tax measures include amendments to the R&D tax credit, the extension of the KDB as well as the extension of the film tax credit, subject to a commencement order.
In Budget 2023, Minister Donohoe announced an extension to a number of existing personal tax reliefs including:
Key measures included in Budget 2023:
The main corporate tax measures include amendments to the Research & Development tax credit and extensions to the Knowledge Development Box and film tax credit regimes:
Help-to-Buy Scheme
The scheme will continue at current rates for another two years and will expire on 31st December 2024
Vacant Homes Tax (“VHT”)
A VHT will apply to residential properties which are occupied for less than 30 days in a 12 month period.
Exemptions will apply where the property is vacant for “genuine reasons.”
The applicable tax rate is three times the existing local property tax (“LPT”) rate
Residential Development Stamp Duty Refund Scheme
The stamp duty refund scheme will continue until the end of 2025.
The stamp duty residential land rebate scheme allows for a refund of eleven-fifteenths of the stamp duty paid on land that is subsequently developed for residential purposes. was due to expire on 31 December 2022. It has been extended to the end of 2025.
Pre-letting Expenses on Certain Vacant Residential Properties
The limit for landlords claiming allowable pre-letting expenses is to be increased from €5,000 to €10,000.
The vacancy period is to be reduced from 12 months to 6 months.
Levy on Concrete Blocks, Pouring Concrete and other Concrete Products
A 10% levy was announced in response to the significant funding required in respect of the defective blocks redress scheme. A 10% levy will be applied to concrete blocks, pouring concrete, and certain other concrete products
This levy applies from 3rd April 2023.
9% VAT rate for hospitality and tourism sector
The 9% VAT rate currently in place to support the tourism and hospitality sectors will continue until 28th February 2023.
9% VAT rate on electricity and gas supplies
The temporary reduction in the VAT rate applicable to gas and electricity supplies (from 13.5% to 9%) will be extended to 28th February 2023.
Farmers’ Flat-Rate Addition
The flat-rate addition is being reduced from 5.5% to 5% in accordance with criteria set out in the EU VAT Directive.
This change will apply from 1st January 2023.
Zero-rated supplies
From 1st January 2023 VAT on newspapers, including digital editions will be reduced from 9% to 0%.
For further information, please click: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/4de03-your-guide-to-budget-2023/
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Please be aware that the information contained in this article is of a general nature. It is not intended to address specific circumstances in relation to any individual or entity. All reasonable efforts have been made by Accounts Advice Centre to provide accurate and up-to-date information, however, there can be no guarantee that such information is accurate on the date it is received or that it will continue to remain so.. This information should not be acted upon without full and comprehensive, specialist professional tax advice.
Revenue published Tax and Duty Manual Part 29-02-03 – Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit today. These updated guidelines clarify Revenue’s treatment of rental expenditure incurred by a company. It states that rental expenditure incurred by a company will be eligible to the extent to which is was incurred “wholly and exclusively” for the purposes of the Research and Development (R&D) activities. This Revenue Guidance material also includes information on the treatment of subsidies received under (i) the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) and (ii) the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS).
According to previous guidance material on this matter issued on 1st July 2020 Revenue’s position was that “rent is expenditure on a building or structure and is excluded from being expenditure on research and development by section 766(1)(a) TCA 1997”.
Since then, Revenue’s position has been the source of continuous discussion and debate with many disagreeing with Revenue’s interpretation of the treatment of rent in relation to R&D claims.
Clarity had been sought from Revenue with regards to their position on rent in relation to both historic and new claims for Research and Development tax relief.
In this latest update, Revenue has clarified that rent will qualify in such circumstances where “the expenditure is incurred wholly and exclusively in the carrying on of the R&D activities.”
According to Paragraph 4.2 of the updated Revenue Guidance Manual:
“In many cases expenditure incurred on renting a space or facility, which is used by a company to carry on an R&D activity, may be expenditure that is incurred “for the purposes of”, or “in connection with”, the R&D activity but will not constitute expenditure incurred wholly and exclusively in the carrying on of the R&D activity. The eligibility of rental expenditure incurred by a company will relate to the extent to which it is incurred wholly and exclusively in the carrying on of the R&D activities. Where the nature of the rented space or facility is such that it is integral to the carrying on of the R&D activity itself then it is likely that the rent can be shown to be more than merely “for the purposes of” or “in connection with” the R&D activity.”
Therefore, it is possible for rental expenditure to be included as part of an R&D tax relief claim but only where that rented building is deemed to be integral to the carrying on of R&D activities. According to Revenue’s guidance material, an example of a rental expense that may be considered qualifying expenditure might relate to the rental of a specialized laboratory used solely for the purposes of carrying out R&D activities. This is contrasted with the rental of office space necessary to house an R&D team, but which is not deemed to be integral to the actual R&D activity. In this case, this rent would not be treated as eligible expenditure.
Revenue have confirmed that this position will only apply for accounting periods commencing on or after 1st July 2020.
Revenue’s Manual has also been updated to include:
For further information, please follow the link: https://www.revenue.ie/en/tax-professionals/tdm/income-tax-capital-gains-tax-corporation-tax/part-29/29-02-03.pdf
Please be aware that the information contained in this article is of a general nature. It is not intended to address specific circumstances in relation to any individual or entity. All reasonable efforts have been made by Accounts Advice Centre to provide accurate and up-to-date information, however, there can be no guarantee that such information is accurate on the date it is received or that it will continue to remain so. This information should not be acted upon without full and comprehensive, specialist professional tax advice.