The head of tax at the OECD has today told Ireland that it must charge Corporation Tax at the full 12.5% rate, if we wish to retain our current Corporation Tax regime
The comments by Pascal Saint-Amans, a former French Ministry of Finance official, were made at a conference in Dublin and reported by RTE News.
It’s worth bearing in mind that any move to enforce an effective Corporation Tax rate of 12.5% here would mean the abolition of
- Capital Allowances
- Research & Development Tax Credits
- Group Relief
These reliefs are very important to both indigenous firms and multinationals based here, particularly in productive sectors that require large capital investment.
It would be a disaster for these firms if our government was to acquiesce in their removal.
Oddly enough, as a Frenchman, M. Saint Amans will be acutely aware that:
- his own government offer a whopping 40% Research & Development Tax Credit, which they claim is “the most generous in Europe”.
- most French companies pay a small fraction of their headline 33.33% Corporation Tax rate.
Maybe he should clean up his own backyard first.
Thomas McGibney & Company 