The above question suggests that potentially our low rate of corporation tax is under threat. For each of the last number of budgets the Minister in the hot seat has made a point of stressing that any change to our 12.5% corporation tax rate is completely off the table. I will be surprised if the current Finance Minister includes similar terminology in his next budget speech.

In my view it is a matter of when and not if the rate will increase. Minister Donohoe has effectively said as much in recent speeches on global tax reform. There are two issues currently been driven by the EU power houses along with the US:-

1. Which country gets the tax in a digital economy; and
2. To introduce a minimum global effective tax rate.

Digital Economy

This is one area that is guaranteed to be changed over the coming years; although it’s not going to be easy to implement, mainly due to the fact that most items can now be sold on the digital market. The idea with this policy is that the country where the product is consumed would be the country that receives the tax. A very simple example is if an Irish company sells its merchandise into Germany via their online platform then the tax should be paid in Germany. This would hurt Ireland more than benefit us so we will undoubtedly be seeing considerable political lobbying to ensure the bulk of the tax remains in the exporting country in situations like this. But make no mistake, this will be implemented in the EU and it’s just a matter of deciding how the tax is to be divided up between the export and import countries.

Global minimum effective tax rate

One way of dealing with the digital economy is to simply have a harmonised EU tax rate. This has been pushed by the more influential EU members, notably France and Germany. This would largely mean that the tax rate in each EU country would be the same. You might question how would this effect foreign direct investment coming into Ireland? My reply would be we would have to rely on our educated workforce, our proximity to the US and the fact that we are English speaking. My experience is that most first  world EU countries are as well-educated as us and speak multiple languages. Other countries also even have accommodation for employees to live in! Very simply we rely on our tax rate to entice companies into Ireland and then the other aspects come into play. Without the 12.5% headline rate I think we are going to struggle when it comes to foreign direct investment.

The Minister at a recent speech has effectively said we now need to start talking with the EU with regard to tax reform as opposed to just saying no. There are a couple of things that worry me with regard to this. Firstly our greatest ally against tax reform will no longer be in the EU by the end of the year. Secondly and possibly very importantly, the EU is backing Ireland to the hilt with respect to Brexit. We will “owe” them one for this and possibly that favour will be called in when it comes to tax reform. Finally, the US are pressing for worldwide tax reform as they continue to push for more tax to be paid by US companies based in countries like Ireland who are, at the moment, keeping profits outside the US.

Corporate tax reform is going to happen. Possibly within the next 5 years we will see major developments. Ireland will unfortunately have to embrace it. We do not know how this will look yet but my own take on this is that Ireland will have less corporate tax receipts to play with as multi-nationals will be less likely to choose to be based here and also the multi-nationals that are here will be paying more tax in other countries and less tax in Ireland. One would hope that this means that Ireland Inc. concentrates on indigenous companies; however I suspect that this concentration will effectively mean a higher tax rate for Irish owned companies.

Regards

Dave O’Brien

Revenue have released figures that there are approximately 159,000 employers making Payroll Submissions to date which has resulted in 23 million lines of information (payslips).

89% of employers have availed of the Direct Payroll Reporting option (i.e. where the payroll software communicates directly with Revenue through the ROS system). 10% of employers are using the ROS manual option (i.e. they are logging into ROS and entering the information online) while 1% of employers are using ROS payroll reporting (i.e. downloading RPN files from ROS and uploading them into the payroll software and vice versa for the Payroll submission).

Employers are reminded that you must report payroll information to Revenue at the time you pay employees. Employers are also reminded that the notional pay for benefits in kind, such as company cars, should be reviewed regularly to ensure the accuracy of the employer's Payroll Submissions. Revenue suggests that such reviews be carried out on a quarterly basis at a minimum.

It has come to our attention that Revenue are now doing a quarterly review of the PAYE/PRSI liability. They are applying the 90% liability rule on a quarterly basis. Employers who are on a fixed Direct Debit and their liability is over the 90% rule after the quarterly review are not being issued with tax clearance certificates and run the risk of interest and penalties.  Therefore, we are advising employers to change from fixed direct debit to variable direct debit.  The amount paid is the liability for that month/quarter; this eliminates a balance at the end of the tax year. If an employer changes from fixed direct debit to variable direct debit and is in a refund situation, Revenue have a hold on refunds and will not issue them unless it is requested through my enquires on www.revenue.ie.  Also, employers will need to ensure that their bank account details are set up to receive EFT refunds. Revenue may also request that any refund be allocated against liabilities due for other tax headings.

Revenue is monitoring Payroll Submissions in the initial months and reviewing any Submission which contains an error and contacting employers to ensure the errors are corrected. Some common errors include: 

• Pay dates which are not within the current tax year;
• Duplicate line items;
• Invalid number of pay periods selected; and
• Duplicate Employment IDs. 

Revenue has also reviewed the quality of the payroll data received and observed the following anomalies:

• No Income tax deducted where an employee was on the Emergency Basis (Income tax should be deducted as there is no longer any Emergency Tax Credit);
• An RPN number being reported but the employee remains on the Emergency Basis (where an RPN has issued, the employee should be on the Cumulative Basis or Week 1 Basis);
• Pay for Income Tax and USC being greater than Gross Pay (e.g. where BIKs were incorrectly omitted from gross pay but recorded as pay for tax and USC purposes). A refund of USC could result in pay for tax purposes and pay for employer PRSI purposes being greater than gross pay;
• USC being deducted in respect of an employee who is exempt from USC;
• USC not being deducted where the employee is not exempt from USC.

Revenue has now made the payroll information for the first quarter available to employees in myAccount since the 9th May 2019. Thereafter, the employee's record will be updated following the filing of the previous month's return. Hence it is anticipated that the employee's record will be updated to include the April payroll information on 15^th May or shortly thereafter.  

Employees are encouraged to register for myAccount (where they are not already registered) in order to view the information. 

Regards

Sally Turner

With Ireland’s economy continuing to grow and expand, and with consumers gaining more confidence and spending power as we reach full employment, it is an ideal time for new start-ups to enter the market.

Many incentives are now available for anyone thinking of starting their own business.

Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Office offer support, advice and many other services to help kick-start new businesses in the right direction.

What Enterprise Ireland has to offer: -

Enterprise Ireland look after what is called High Potential Start-Up companies also referred to as HPSU’s. To qualify as a HPSU, start-up businesses will need to possess the following characteristics: -

• The potential to develop an innovative product/service which is available for sale across international markets;
• The ability to generate 10 jobs;
• The ability to raise sales of €1m within three years of start up.

In order to access the various funding Enterprise Ireland has to offer, you must first register as a client with them. The type of funding a start-up company will be entitled to will then depend on their stage of development; whether your company is at its feasibility, investor ready or growth stage, which will be determined by Enterprise Ireland. The following supports are available for the various stages of development:

Feasibility Stage Companies

Grants - The Feasibility Grant will offer supports to help develop an investor ready business plan for start-ups. It will also cover costs from salaries, consultancy fees, foreign travel to trade fair costs and prototype costs. On the other hand, the mentor grant will provide a start-up with a knowledgeable and experienced mentor to guide them in their start-up phase.

Innovation Voucher - These vouchers are available to companies at the early stages of their development to aid them to work with a registered college/knowledge provider in Ireland. This will give start up’s the opportunity to work out any problems regarding their venture or explore business opportunities. To avail of this €5,000 voucher, a CRO number is mandatory.

Investor Ready Companies

Enterprise Ireland offers two funds that can be applied for by start-ups who are seeking to raise funds to accelerate their business plan. These funds will offer companies equity investments in two forms: -

- A start-up can avail of a €50,000 equity investment which will help the company to achieve commercial, technical and marketing milestones. Such funding can be availed of several times throughout the year.

- On the other hand, Enterprise Ireland offers a start-up the opportunity to enter a co-funding agreement; this can also be availed of more than once.

Growth Stage Companies

This type of support is available to companies who are looking to expand their business and to achieve continued development. If a start-up has previously availed of funding in the other stages of Enterprise Ireland’s programme, this may impact on whether you will be eligible for these supports.

- Mentor grants and innovation vouchers are available under this stage as previously discussed in the feasibility stage.

- Workshops are provided to companies who are looking to expand into international markets and gain the tools required to practice good international selling techniques.

- Funding is also available to give companies the opportunity to explore and research new geographic markets by covering both internal and external researching costs. 

New Frontiers Enterprise Programme

Set up in 2012, this programme was launched with the aim of helping start-up companies to accelerate their business plan which will result in economic growth and the generation of employment. Many benefits are available to start-ups under this programme such as €15,000 tax free towards covering full time courses, mentoring from experienced advisers, networking, office space, access to numerous learning facilities and much more. This three-phase programme will start by testing the business idea over an 8-10-week period, evaluating through workshops and training whether it is a viable opportunity to explore. If so and through an in-depth idea selection process of all the candidates, the successors will be provided with supports for a six-month period along with €15,000 subject to review and satisfactory performance which will involve the development and planning of the business i.e. target market, funding options. Companies who progress to the final stage will then be shown to the most relevant government funding and further supports can be provided for a limited period which is dependent on their Enterprise Ireland management team.

For more information on how you can make the leap and start-up your own business, please contact Enterprise Ireland or alternatively for more information, and a helping hand with these applications, please contact us at info@quintas.ie and we would be more than happy to help kick-start you in the right direction.

Regards

Nicola Mullen

The term ‘Vulture Fund’ has certainly been in the news on a regular basis in the last number of years. This is as a result of the sale of bad loans to investment funds by the pillar banks. These loans are being sold at significant discounts by the banks as they are batched into so called bundles.

I get the feeling that sometimes we need a bad guy to point the finger at and that is now the ‘Vulture Fund’ rather than the original bank that provided the loan.

One of the most high-profile loan sales was called Project Eagle. This was a loan sale by NAMA of €1.6 billion of its Northern Ireland debts back in April 2014. As most of these loans were commercial or large property related loans it was big news, but it didn’t have much impact for the person on the street. The game has now changed with the recent sale of smaller personal and home loans which amounts in real terms to hundreds of thousands of borrowers and billions of debt.

These loans can include anything from credit card debts, family home loans, Buy - To - Let loans, smaller commercial or retails loans and residual debt loans. Having hands on experience of negotiating with these investment funds their sole goal is to maximise the return from each loan they have bought. Reviews are done and settlements are achieved on a case by case basis.

These loans are in the main historical debts that are a carry-over from the economic crash which occurred over 10 years ago. In most cases these loans were as unsustainable then as they are now. They could and should have been dealt with back then rather than 10 years later when we would have hoped we would have moved beyond this hangover.

A quick internet search for the term Vulture Fund Sales Ireland brought up the following articles:

Goldman ‘vulture funds’ collect €465m from distressed Irish loans The Irish Times – October 2018

Giant vulture painted outside banking headquarters in Dublin to condemn the sale of vulture funds Dublin Live – March 2019

Vulture funds 'bought tens of thousands of family mortgages' in Ireland at half their value Irish Mirror – April 2019

Vulture funds: Ireland ‘the gift that keeps on giving’? Roscommon People – July 2019

There are hundreds of more articles, but the theme of each article is the same. Bad loans have been sold by the main banks to Vulture Funds and they are in turn going to squeeze all they can out of already distressed borrowers.

The main question should be why the banks that sold these loans did not deal with these borrowers themselves since the economic and property crash. Why did it take over 10 years to get to the point that they are now just selling on these loans? Surely these banks would have been better off engaging with their customers and surely the return they would have garnered would have been better than the discounted price being paid by the Vulture Fund.

Unfortunately, Vulture Funds are here to stay and with further loan sales scheduled for the coming months those in debt will need to engage with these Funds to settle or restructure their debts.

The only way to deal with these Funds is to engage with them to try to resolve these debts. Unfortunately, these Funds are more aggressive than the pillar banks and they have no difficulty with issuing legal proceedings and pursuing borrowers through the courts.

For those in distress the government implemented new legislation in 2012 called the Personal Insolvency legislation. This gives borrowers court protection from their creditors and a path to resolving their debts so they can move on with their lives.

The government also launched a free financial advice scheme called ‘Abhaile’ which allows those in debt get free financial and legal advice to assist them resolve their debts. I am on the panel of advisors for this scheme.

For anyone affected by these loan sales or who is concerned about their debts please contact me

Regards

Mark Ryan

The European Union’s 4^th Anti-Money Laundering directive requires all EU Member States to put into national law provisions requiring corporate and legal entities to obtain and hold adequate, accurate and current information on their beneficial owners.

On 18^th November 2018 the Anti Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act 2018 which transposes the EU 4^th AML directive into Irish Law was signed into law by Michael D Higgins. One of the principal aims of the directive is to ensure that individuals with significant economic interests in a relevant entity can be identified for the purposes of customer due diligence to combat terrorist financing and money laundering.

The purpose of setting up the RBO register is to improve corporate trust and transparency in Ireland and the EU by making it clear who ultimately owns and controls the relevant entities. The effect of the recent legislation is that these relevant entities (all companies and also includes Industrial and Provident Societies) must do the following:

• Create an internal register of their beneficial owners. This information must then be submitted through an online portal at www.rbo.gov.ie.
• Where the beneficial owners are not known, take all reasonable steps to ensure the beneficial ownership information is gathered and recorded on the beneficial ownership register.
• Where no beneficial owners can be identified, enter the names of the directors/senior managers of the relevant entity on the RBO as the ‘beneficial owners’.

A Beneficial Owner refers to a natural person who owns or controls a legal entity through direct or indirect ownership of a sufficient percentage of the shares or voting rights or ownership interest in that company. Any person who holds 25% or more of the company’s shares, whether directly or indirectly, is a beneficial owner. In the case of indirect ownership, for example a trust structure or corporate entity as a shareholder, there is a legal requirement to file and disclose details of the Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO).

The RBO must contain the following information in respect of each beneficial owner:

• Name, date of birth and residential address
• Nationality
• PPS number
• Extent of beneficial ownership
• Date of entry/cessation as a beneficial owner

The RBO must be updated whenever there is a change in Beneficial Ownership.

RBO submissions will be accepted online from 29th July 2019. There is no paper based filing option. The deadline for submission of the RBO information is 22^nd November 2019. Failure of an entity to comply with any of the above obligations is a criminal offence and can result in a fine of €5,000 on summary conviction and may also result in a fine not exceeding €500,000 if convicted on indictment.

Regards

Sean Grahame

Every business has an employee who is critical to its profitability, someone who is integral and critical to the business, someone who is firmly entrenched and important, it might be a top salesperson or a manager that is vital to the business.  Ask yourself – “what would happen to your business if that employee were to pass away?" If that employee is indeed "key" that is, he or she creates significant revenue, revenue that would take a while to replace, then their loss would likely trigger an economic crisis in your small business!

Keyman insurance is one of the most overlooked insurances by firms - but also one of the most important. This article looks at the risks it can cover for directors, shareholders, partners and employees alike.

As a businessperson you might have public liability insurance and you insure your buildings, stock and vehicles. You may even have professional indemnity insurance and legal cost insurance. Is that all?

Key staff represent the heart of every business but no more so than the small, often family, business that have up to 4 employees. Prolonged absence through serious illness or even death can be terminal for some of these enterprises. The risks are the same for limited companies, partnerships and sole traders. In this context keyman insurance is a must.

Keyman insurance represents a group of insurance plans all designed to financially protect businesses from the effects of prolonged illness or even death of staff. The insurance can't replace people, but it can provide cash to buy time and cover the costs of temporary staff, recruitment, loss of profits or provide a cash injection.

The insurance falls into four categories - insurance to help your business recover during the extended period when your key personnel are unable to work or to train or recruit a replacement, insurance to protect profits, insurance to protect shareholders or partnership interests, and insurance for anyone involved in guaranteeing business loans or banking facilities.

Who are your key people?

• They are the ones who steer, create and drive your business;
• The people without whom your business would lose sales and profits or without whom even the basic viability of your business would be shaken;
• Look at the Directors, Partners, owners and beyond;
• Consider the roles of senior managers in sales, technical development and operations - the roles will change in every business, but the candidates are sure to jump out at you;
• Insuring these people will provide the extra cash needed to take on temporary staff or recruit and train a replacement.

The loss of a key person can have a major financial and operational impact on your business. Some of the ways in which your business may be affected are listed below:

• The business will have to survive without that person’s unique skills, business contacts, management experience or intimate knowledge of your business. This may result in a reduction in service standards and loss of confidence by both customers and suppliers;
• Bank loans could be called in if the key person had given a personal guarantee;
• There could be a withdrawal or reduction of credit facilities by banks or suppliers who are concerned about the future of your company due to the death or serious illness of the key person. Loans made by the key person will have to be repaid;
• Additional cost of recruiting a suitable replacement (if one can be found).

What is the solution?

Putting keyperson insurance in place.

It can help you overcome the financial repercussions of losing a valued member of staff.

The keyperson policy will pay out a lump sum benefit to the business on the death or serious illness of an insured key person.

The lump sum benefit will compensate the business for any loss of profit or can be used to repay loans or recruit a suitable replacement.

So, can your business afford to ignore keyman insurance? You'd be brave to say YES!

If you'd like to find out more contact me on 021 4641400 or email aodoherty@qwm.ie

Regards

Anne O' Doherty

Eoghan Murphy T.D., Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, announced on 25^th October 2018 new regulations in respect of short-term lettings in areas designated as rent pressure zones.

The reforms which are now underpinned in legislation and which became effective on 1^st July 2019 are primarily aimed at addressing the impact on the private rental market by the use of residential homes for short-term tourism type letting in areas of high housing demand. Accordingly the new provisions only applies in areas designated as “rent pressure zones” under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, as amended.

In general, short-term letting relates to residential property lettings (for tourism or otherwise) to different occupants for periods of 14 days or less. Residential letting periods for longer than 14 days shall not be considered to be ‘short-term letting’.

Short-term letting of a Principal Primary Residence (in rent pressure zones)

Home-sharing continues to be permissible where it is a person’s primary residence, and the home-owner is required to register with their local authority as such. An annual cumulative cap of 90 days applies for the renting out on a short-term basis. Where the 90 day threshold is exceeded, change of use planning permission is required.

Short-term letting of a Non Principal Primary Residence (in rent pressure zones)

Where a person owns a second property and intends to let it as a short-term let, they will no longer be allowed to do so unless the property is already permitted to be used for tourism/short-term letting purposes.

Planning permission for a change of use to Short Term Letting can be sought and it will be up to each local Planning Authority to grant permissions, based on guidance issued from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. In areas of high housing demand permission may not be granted.

Properties not affected by the legislative changes

The legislative changes in relation to short-term letting does not affect the following:

1. Short-term letting in areas outside the designated rent pressure zones;
2. Operation of holiday homes as typically understood;
3. Longer-term flexible lettings which are provided for those coming to Ireland under employment contracts;
4. Properties that currently have permission to operate in the tourism market.

Commercial activity

It is important to note that permission granted by a Local Authority under a change in use application may render a short-term let a commercial activity which may introduce extra charges for the property owners, such as water, insurance and commercial rates.

Regards

Denis Healy