Meeting with Minister Donohoe to discuss CCAB-I’s Pre-Budget 2026 submission

Last week, the Institute, under the auspices of the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies – Ireland (CCAB-I) had the opportunity to meet with Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, and his officials to discuss the CCAB-I’s Pre-Budget 2026 submission.

Our conversation focused on the recommendations laid out in the submission as well as other areas of focus of the CCAB-I Tax Committee, including the challenges facing frontier workers in Ireland. We highlighted the work to date through the Tax Administration Liaison Committee and the Business Tax Stakeholder Forum on tax simplification, as well as the importance of tax certainty for businesses. We also highlighted the critical need for investment in infrastructure such as housing and childcare.  

In terms of the specific tax measures we raised with the Minister, we discussed the following:

• Enhanced reporting requirements for employers – we highlighted the operational challenges of real-time reporting of in-scope tax free benefits and expenses, recommending periodic returns on either a monthly or quarterly basis. This has been a consistent area of engagement with both Revenue and the Department of Finance since the introduction of the new reporting regime in Finance (No. 2) Act 2023.
• Special Assignee Relief Programme (SARP) – We stressed the importance of SARP in attracting global talent and called for its expansion to include SMEs and benchmarking our relief against comparable regimes in other jurisdictions. We highlighted recent reviews of the relief which concluded on a cost-benefit analysis that the relief generates an overall positive return to the Exchequer.
• Participation Exemption for certain foreign dividends – While welcoming recent progress, we advocated for further enhancements, including completing work on a corresponding foreign branch exemption. In an earlier letter to the Department of Finance this summer, we highlighted the limitations on geographic scope and the five-year ‘look back’ requirement.

Concluding the meeting, Minister Donohoe reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to certainty and stability, which are essential for fostering a thriving business environment for both domestic and international businesses. We look forward to continued engagement to ensure Ireland remains a best-in-class location for business.

Pictured with the Minister are Sarah Meredith, FCA, Grant Thornton, Gearoid O'Sullivan, ACA, Cróna Clohisey, FCA, Enda Faughnan ACCA, Grant Thornton