ICAI, under the umbrella body CCAB-I, has made its Pre Budget Submission 2008 to the Minister for Finance. The theme for this year's submission is “The Defence of Irish Business Interests”.

This year's Pre Budget Submission focuses on defending Irish business interests by recommending a number of measures including that all preliminary corporation tax payments be based on the previous year's results; further enhancements to be made to BES, R&D and VAT for small traders; and strengthening of the holding company regime by exempting distributions.

In addition, we have made a number of recommendations in relation to necessary refinements of our tax regime to allow Ireland to remain competitive, such as the introduction of a Stamp Duty exemption for incorporation of businesses; an increase in pension contribution limits; and the refinement of the Capital Gains Tax system.

Finally, the submission focuses on the necessary changes required to modernise the relationship between Revenue and the taxpayer, such as introducing a time limit for concluding a Revenue Audit; ability to make technical adjustments without penalty; and refinement of interest on under and overpaid tax.

The CCAB-I Pre Budget Submission 2008 is reproduced at Section 2.01.