The Department of Finance has published Finance Bill 2023 (“the Bill”) which legislates for further cost-of-living measures announced by the Government on 21 February.
Section 1 of the Bill amends five agricultural tax reliefs contained in the Taxes Consolidation Act (“TCA”) 1997, as follows:
- Section 285D TCA 1997 is amended to reflect the updated publication requirements for the acceleration of wear and tear allowances for farm safety equipment in accordance with the revised EU Agricultural Block Exemption Regulation (ABER). This section is further updated to reflect the definition of SME contained Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/2472.
- Section 604B TCA 1997 is amended extending the relief for farm restructuring to 31 December 2025.
- Section 658A TCA 1997 is amended extending the relevant period for accelerated allowances for capital expenditure on slurry storage to 31 December 2025. This section is further amended to reflect updated publication requirements under ABER. The section now also includes the definition of micro or small enterprise contained in Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/2472.
- Section 667B TCA 1997 is amended extending the stock relief for young trained farmers to 31 December 2024. The section now also includes the definition of micro or small enterprise contained in Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/2472.
- Section 667C TCA 1997 is amended extending the stock relief for registered farm partnerships to 31 December 2024.
Section 2 of the Bill amends Schedule 2 Finance Act 1999 reflecting the revised rates of Mineral Oil Tax applicable from 23 February 2023 while also providing for the phased restoration of the rates in relation to petrol, diesel and marked gas oil by 31 October 2023.
Section 3 of the Bill amends the VAT Consolidation Act (“VATCA”) 2010 extending the temporary 9 percent VAT rate to 31 October 2023 for gas and electricity supplies. The 9 percent VAT is extended to 31 August 2023 for the hospitality and tourism sectors. The amendment also provides for the zero-rating of supplies of COVID-19 testing kits.
Section 4 of the Bill amends the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act (SDCA) 1999 as follows:
- Section 81AA SDCA 1999 is amended extending the stamp duty relief for young trained farmer to 31 December 2025. In addition, the period during which an individual can qualify for this relief after acquiring land is reduced from 4 years to 3 years, to comply with ABER.
- Section 81C SDCA 1999 is amended extending farm consolidation to 31 December 2025.
Section 5 of the Bill amends Finance Act 2022 to legislate for the changes announced to the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS) as follows:
- TBESS is extended from 28 February 2023 to 31 May 2023 with the potential for further extension to 31 July 2023.
- The ‘specified period’ is extended from 28 February 2023 to 31 May 2023.
- The ‘energy costs threshold’ is reduced to 30 percent and applies retrospectively from 1 September 2022.
- Relief is increased from 40 percent to 50 percent of eligible costs for claim periods after 1 March 2023.
- The claim period is now no later than two months from the end of the specified period. So, where the specified period ends on 31 May 2023, this would enable claims to be made up to 31 July 2023.