Progress on Finance Bill 2021, including the amendment on the free use of property, free loans, etc. being withdrawn, along with important updates from TALC meetings and the Minister for Finance’s comments on joining the international tax agreement, as well as the latest updates from Revenue all feature in the Irish developments.

A number of amendments to Finance Bill 2021 as initiated were approved by the Government for inclusion at Dáil Committee Stage, on 12 November. These amendments were primarily required to correct drafting and typographical errors in the Bill. The Minister for Finance also decided not to proceed with section 62 of the Bill in order to give greater consideration to the proposal to value the free use of money by reference to the best price a borrower could obtain for capital acquisitions tax purposes.

Technical amendments were also tabled to ensure that the legislation operates as intended for the Employment Investment Incentive Scheme, the interest limitation rule in line with obligations under the EU ATADs, Anti-Reverse-Hybrid rules transposed from the EU ATAD and the Digital Gaming Tax Credit.

A press release issued by the Department of Finance includes details on the amendments, which are reflected in the Bill as amended in Committee. Included in these amendments is a new section to clarify the treatment of the disposal of property through raffles or draws for the purposes of capital gains tax (CGT). This amendment seeks to ensure that, where a principal private residence is disposed of through a raffle or draw, PPR relief is limited to gains made up to the market value of the property.

There are also a number of technical amendments made to the provisions in the Bill on residential zoned land tax, along with a new forfeiture provisions and changes to the maps section of the legislation, providing greater clarity regarding commercial businesses which can be excluded from the scope of the tax when they are integral to a residential community. There is also an amendment in relation to the mixed sites provision which provides for the cessation of the tax where a commercial development commences.

Further Report Stage amendments were published in the Finance Bill, as passed by Dáil Éireann. The amendments include:

• Extension to the income tax exemption applying to the Pandemic Placement Grant to 31 December 2022;
• Amendment to the new section 1077F TCA 1997, on the beginning of an enquiry or investigation; and
• Further updates to the residential zoned land tax provisions.