Bruton To Promote Irish Corporate Tax Changes In US
Ireland’s Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton is undertaking his first investment mission since the Government announced major changes to the corporate tax regime as part of Budget 2015.
Bruton is visiting the East Coast of the US as part of a program of engagement by the Government with multinational companies on corporation tax issues. The aim is to communicate to investors the certainty and enhanced competitiveness that the Government says now characterizes the Irish tax system. Burton will lead a further investment mission to the West Coast and Mid-West in mid-November as part of this initiative.
The Minister will meet with 17 target and client companies considering new job-creating projects in Ireland. These firms come mainly from the financial services, technology, and healthcare sectors. Bruton will also hold a bilateral meeting with Mike Froman, the US Trade Representative leading negotiations on the Trans Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks between the US and European Union.
Bruton said that he was looking forward to discussing the Budget reforms with senior executives. “Since October 14, IDA Ireland [Ireland’s investment agency] and I have had a lot of engagement with investors on these changes, and the reaction we are getting is overwhelmingly positive. Investors now know what Ireland’s tax system will look like post-BEPS, and they know that this tax system will be competitive. The same cannot be said about the countries we are competing with for these investments.”
“I am confident that, by continuing this program of engagement, we can ensure that the impact of these changes is to increase the number of jobs we create in multinational companies in the coming years.”
Finance Bill 2014, which implements the reforms, was published last week. It amends Ireland’s company tax residence rules to ensure that all companies that are incorporated in Ireland will be automatically tax resident there, to counteract Double Irish tax planning arrangements. If the legislation is passed, the requirement will come into effect for new companies from January 1, 2015, and from 2020 for existing businesses.
It also enhances the intangible assets regime and extends both the Foreign Earnings Deduction and the Special Assignee Relief Programme to end-2017, while proposing the introduction of a regime similar to that of the United Kingdom’s patent box regime
