Finance Bill measure seeks to bring non-resident corporate landlords onto level playing field
Non Will In Be Treated Announced Landlord In Budget, Measure, File Landlords Paschal Same Way Will Irish Ensure Corporate As Resident Corporate Week's The Finance That Not Minister Donohoe's Photo New Last Owners
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has extended a tax measure for so-called vulture funds to ensure that non-resident corporate landlords are not treated better than Irish-resident corporate landlords.
The new measure is among a number of additional items published in the Finance Bill that were not announced in last week's budget.
The scope of the new landlord measure, which is designed to apply to non-resident corporate property owners, comes amid the continuing controversy over the widespread role played by all types of overseas investment property funds in the Irish economy and their tax treatment by the State since the financial crash.
The Finance Bill will ensure that non-resident corporate landlords will be treated in the same way as Irish corporate owners, under the EU's anti-tax avoidance directive, or ATAD, the Department of Finance said.
Finance Bill 2021 extends the Help-to-Buy scheme in its current enhanced form for a further year to the end of 2022. The scheme will be reviewed in the course of next year #HousingforAll #Budget2022 pic.twitter.com/Jo5cxOoPm0
— Department of Finance (@IRLDeptFinance) October 21, 2021
In a further amendment for property owners, the bill also proposes non-substantial changes to the existing 10% stamp duty levied on institutional investors buying 10 or more properties. It clarifies that the tax does not apply to apartments.
The Finance Bill also includes a measure to extend the debt warehousing scheme in some cases to self-assessed income tax payers, and provides a clarification for production companies which tap the 32% tax credit under the existing film relief scheme.
In other changes, the bill proposes that student nurses will not pay tax on their pandemic placement grants received during the Covid crisis, and an extension to the at-sea tax relief for naval personnel is designed to make it easier for the Naval Service to attract recruits.
For tax defaulters, the bill proposes "a tax-geared penalties" for failing to file a tax return. It also seeks to increase the threshold for people to have their names published on the Revenue's tax defaulters' list.
Finance Bill 2021 makes provision for a new Zoned Land Tax (ZLT) to facilitate the public policy requirement that when suitable land is zoned and serviced for housing, it should be made available for residential development at the earliest opportunity #HousingforAll #Budget2022 pic.twitter.com/3gDyIvJKsg
— Department of Finance (@IRLDeptFinance) October 21, 2021
The Finance Bill also allows the Tax Appeals Commission more time, in certain circumstances, when involved in High Court cases.
Brian Keegan, director of public policy at Chartered Accountants Ireland, said the Finance Bill included "many tidying up measures".
It follows a budget last week that was conservative in terms of new measures for business, he said.