The Finance Bill 2007 was published on Thursday, 1 February 2007.

A special analysis has been prepared of the measures introduced in the Finance Bill and is reproduced at Section 2.01.

As well as confirming measures announced in the Budget, such as the extension of the BES/SCS to 31 December 2013 and an increase of the small company threshold to € 150,000 for preliminary corporation tax payments, the following are additional measures which were announced and will have significance to our members in business and practice:

• Extension of BES/SCS to qualifying recycling companies. The Department has already engaged with the Commission on the requirement for approval under the State-Aid rules. It is not certain when the Commission will make its decision.
• Large companies will be allowed offset their preliminary tax payments between group members for the purpose of working out the adequacy of preliminary corporation tax payments.
• New taxation measures for stallions, which will come into effect after 31 July 2008 and are subject to EU approval, should allow stallion owners to write off the purchase cost of stallions over a four year period and provide for the taxation of income from the sale of stallions.
• It is proposed to introduce a limited tax driven scheme for part of the mid-Shannon area.
• The provisions for company group relief are being amended to deal with the issues of crossborder losses raised in the ECJ decision on the Marks & Spencer case.
• Introduction of unilateral credit relief in relation to foreign tax suffered by a company that has a branch or agency in a country with which Ireland does not have a tax treaty and tax suffered on capital gains in certain countries.
• There are a number of changes proposed to the transfer of assets abroad legislation.
• It is proposed to abolish the requirement to obtain Residential Property Tax clearance on the sale of certain properties.
• Anti-avoidance measures in relation to the CAT dwelling house exemption and transfer of site to a child CGT/stamp duty exemptions.
• Provision for the removal of the option for landlords to waive the VAT on short term letting of residential property.

ICAI, as part of CCAB-I, made a Pre Finance Bill Submission to the Minister for Finance. The submission is available at Section 2.02. The success of those representations is noted on page 15 of the Finance Bill 2007 analysis.