By the time you receive this issue of tax.point, the Minister for Finance will have delivered his Budget for 2009. As in previous years, a special ICAI eNews was sent out to all members on the night of the Budget. The November issue of tax.point will contain detailed analysis of the Budgetary announcements.

Due to the unprecedented move which brought forward the Budget by seven weeks to 14 October 2008, it therefore follows that the Finance Bill must also be brought forward. It will most likely be published before the end of November.

Pre Budget Submission

ICAI, under the umbrella body CCAB-I, made its Pre Budget Submission 2009 to the Minister for Finance in September. The theme for this year's submission is “Using the Tax System to free capital”.

The following is a summary of key points of importance:

• We proposed a new personal tax regime for scientists and innovators active in areas identified under the National Development Plan, both to attract and retain world class personnel towards the development of products and intellectual property in this country.
• We recommended a full participation exemption on dividend payments from foreign subsidiaries to ensure Ireland is on par with other EU Member States as a location for holding companies.
• The R&D relief requires amendment to permit a cash refund of the relief where R&D ventures are in a start-up phase, and/or to permit its offset against Employers PRSI liabilities. This is to allow us to compete for R&D investment internationally.
• Two of the most important tax reliefs which encourage investment in Irish Industry are the BES Relief and the R&D Relief.

• – BES should be modified to permit investment in a wider range of companies by reference to their commercial activities, and to allow a higher limit of investment by individual investors.
• – A parallel proposal is to extend the tax relief currently available for employees investing in their employing companies.

The CCAB-I Pre Budget Submission 2009 is reproduced at Section 2.01.