In a written response to a Parliamentary Question in the Dail in June, the Minister for Finance outlined the operation of this new levy.

Broadly the Domicile Levy is chargeable on an Irish domiciled citizen with worldwide income of over €1m, Irish “passive” assets of more than €5m, and an Income Tax liability of less than €200,000.

The Minister pointed out that the first valuation date for the levy will be 31 December 2010. He stated that no one has “self-declared” yet for the domicile levy for the tax year 2010 – not a matter of surprise given that the valuation date has not yet arrived.

The Minister went on to state that “in 2008, some 6,966 Irish income tax returns showed one or both spouses as non-resident. As many of the non-residents included in this figure are foreign nationals or have a foreign domicile, they would not be subject to the domicile levy. The equivalent figures for 2009 are not yet available.”

As respects the yield from the Domicile Levy in 2011, he said that “having regard to the lack of available data, it is not possible to estimate the number of individuals, including individuals who filed Irish income tax returns for the tax year 2008, that this measure will affect; hence it is not possible to estimate the yield.”