Addressing the housing shortage – Pre-Budget 2026 submission launched

Over the weekend, Chartered Accountants Ireland, under the auspices of the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies – Ireland (CCAB-I), launched this year’s Pre-Budget 2026 submission, titled “Addressing the ongoing housing shortage”. You can read the full submission here.

With 1 in 4 SMEs reporting that their business has lost employees or seen prospective employees unable to take roles due to the unavailability of affordable housing, the lack of housing is now clearly both a business as well as a social issue. CCAB-I notes this market failure, and calls for a targeted, time bound and regularly reviewed tax intervention to correct it.

As well as housing, we are calling on the Government to address certain ‘quick wins’ to ease the regulatory and compliance burden on businesses. We are also asking the Government to enhance tax reliefs specifically with the needs of SMEs in mind, and to commit to no further increases in Employers’ PRSI to 2028 to manage the substantial increases in the cost of doing business.

Businesses are facing substantially increased compliance and regulatory burdens. As part of our mandate to voice areas where Government could simplify reporting requirements for businesses without compromising the information required, we have identified some areas where the Government can score ‘quick wins’. These are:

• Simplify tax filing by introducing a single pay-and-file date for capital gains tax aligned with the annual income tax return.

• Simplify the reporting of tax-free small benefits and expenses (the Enhanced Reporting Requirements rules) by replacing real-time reporting with monthly or quarterly returns. CCAB-I also recommends that penalties of €4,000 that are potentially chargeable where a reportable item is missed are made proportionate with the fact that the payments are non-taxable.

• Introduce legislation enabling businesses to provide their staff with reasonable levels of hospitality while working without having to apply a benefit-in-kind tax charge. This would provide much needed certainty to business as to what they can provide in terms of lunches and teas and coffees and would critically support the local economy and hospitality sector. As we operate within a self-assessment tax system, employers should be empowered to determine what is a reasonable accommodation.

In addition to the ever-increasing compliance and regulatory burden on businesses, SMEs continue to need support, particularly given the impact of the significant increases in the cost of doing business. As such, we are calling on the Government to address the following areas:

• Government should commit to no further increases in the rate of Employers’ PRSI for the next four years. Incremental increases across all classes of PRSI are planned up to 2028. Consideration should also be given to reducing the rate of Employers’ PRSI on minimum wage workers by 1.5 percent to help with the initial costs of pension auto enrolment which will likely come in next year.
• Broaden the eligibility criteria for the Special Assignee Relief Programme (SARP), so indigenous SMEs can benefit from the relief.
• Enhance the Research & Development tax credit regime for SMEs and broaden the scope for claiming costs relating to third parties.