Pearse Trust Blog

Ireland has won a case taken by the EU Commission against it for allowing holding companies and other non-taxable persons to be included in a VAT group.

There are many beneficial European influences on Irish tax law. The purpose of this blog is to give the reader a flavour of the more important of such effects.

On 5 February 2013 the European Commission adopted two new proposals in the fight against money laundering, tax evasion and terrorist financing. One of these proposals was a directive on the prevention and use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing – the Fourth AML Directive.

A solvent company registered in England and Wales may be wound up by means of a Members’ Voluntary Liquidation (‘MVL’).  An MVL is a process by which the value of the assets of a company are realised and distributed to the company’s creditors and members.  This form of liquidation procedure is often used where a company was formed;

A “Societas Europaea” (an “SE”) is a type of European public limited company (PLC) (limited by shares) having all of the company law advantages of incorporation. 

VAT compliance and filing is an area of tax involving routine and frequent returns to the tax authorities.  Where effective and consistent procedures are adopted the administrative burden of VAT compliance on the taxpayer can be managed very well.

On Wednesday 5 December 2012 Ireland’s Minister for Finance Michael Noonan T.D. will deliver his second budget speech to Dáil Éireann.  Under the terms of the programme, agreed with the EU / IMF / ECB, Ireland is required to adjust downwards its public sector deficit by approximately €3bn in 2013. This adjustment will be effected by means of a mix of public spending cuts and revenue raising measures.

This blog post reviews a number of recent developments in the Irish tax environment, several of which will be of interest to those engaged in international tax.

Ireland has recorded tax revenues of €20,313 million for the first seven months of 2012. These tax revenues are €500 million (2.5%) ahead of budgetary target and are €1,680 million (9%) ahead of the tax revenues collected for the first seven months of 2011. This represents very positive news for the Irish Government and is mainly due to the robust tax collection in the areas of income tax, VAT and corporation tax.