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Finance Minister Michael Noonan today published the Finance Bill 2012 which gives effect to the taxation measures announced in last December’s Budget.  The Minister said:

This Finance Bill is a further step towards economic recovery and regaining our fiscal autonomy. The achievement of these objectives will take time but we are making good progress in implementing our Programme for Government.  The primary purpose of Budget 2012 was to support the creation of jobs in the short term, the medium term and the long term while reducing the deficit to support a sustainable economy.

The Budget contained a number of targeted supports for employment for both the FDI and the SME sectors and the Bill provides additional details of the support for financial services flagged in December. 

A new Special Assignee Relief Programme (SARP) will reduce the cost to employers of assigning skilled individuals in their companies from abroad to take up positions in Ireland. Such individuals could be transferred to head up new divisions of the company or take charge of new product development. Similar schemes are in operation in some of the countries with which we compete for investment and can be a persuading factor when companies decide where to locate investment projects.

The Bill is about fairness. It gives effect to my Budget Day announcement that Mortgage Interest Relief (MIR) will be increased to 30% for first-time buyers who purchased their first homes in the years 2004 to 2008 and increases the exemption threshold for Universal Social Charge from €4,004 to €10,036. At the same time it imposes limits on the use of legacy property reliefs and abolishes certain tax avoidance schemes.

Economic circumstances mean we must target support where it is most needed. I am confident that the measures contained in this Finance Bill provide balanced, targeted and effective support to business to encourage job creation which will be the cornerstone of our economic recovery.

Minister Noonan spoke to MerrionStreet.ie on the Finance Bill...