The Committee Stage of the Finance Bill concluded last Thursday, 25 February. As signalled in Tax eNews of last week, there were significant amendments made to the Bill by the Minister for Finance, not least in the area of mandatory reporting of tax avoidance arrangements.
As is usually the case, amendments proposed by the Minister for Finance have been adopted. These will be reflected in the next version of the Bill to be published prior to Report Stage.
It should also be noted that we expect amendments to the Mid Shannon Tourism relief scheme to be introduced at Report Stage. At Report Stage, planned for 9 and 10 March, only amendments that arise from proceedings in Committee may be debated. Under the Oireachtas rules any Report Stage amendment must have been the subject of discussion during the Committee Stage. It follows that sometimes during the Committee Stage debate the Minister will mention a proposed amendment at the Report Stage, and the Mid Shannon scheme was mentioned in this context.