Michael Noonan today presented us with the 2017 budget measures.

Largely due to the structure of our latest government, many of the tax measures for 2017 have been made public over the last few weeks, leaving little in the way of any big surprise announcements.

The main changes effecting most people are:

• ​Reduction in lower USC rates to 0.5%, 2.5% and 5%
• Increase in the 2.5% USC band to €18,772
• Tax rebate for first time buyers of newly built homes in operation from 19 July 2016
• Mortgage interest deduction for rented residential property increased to 80%
• Rent-a-room relief threshold increased to €14,000
• Home Carer Credit increased to €1,100 per year
• Reduction in DIRT charged on savings to 39%
• Self-employed earned income tax credit increased by €400 to €950
• Increase in all three CAT tax-free thresholds
• Increase in price of a packet of 20 cigarettes of €0.50c (pro-rata increase on other tobacco products)

Meanwhile the Special Assignee Relief Programme (SARP) and Foreign Earnings Deduction reliefs have been extended to 2020. The minimum days for the FED has been decreased from 40 to 30 to make it more accessible for SMEs.

The 9% VAT rate for the hospitality sector has been retained which will be welcomed by the industry especially in view of the impending Brexit.

The Start Your Own Business Relief available to those on certain social welfare benefits has also been extended for another two years. This, in my view, is a very good incentive for making a start in business.

Again, a welcome measure for entrepreneurs sees a further decrease in the CGT rate from 20% to 10% on certain disposals of business assets. There is a lifetime cap on this relief of €1 million.

Farmers having a particularly poor year will be able to step out of the income averaging method and pay their tax on an actual year basis. Meanwhile, the flat-rate addition for farmer's will increase from 5.2% to 5.4% . There has also been an improvement to the accelerated capital allowance scheme for energy efficient equipment for sole traders with the full allowance deductible in year one.

A tax credit has been made available for fishermen to incentivise the industry. The credit is €1,270 which would cover an income of approximately €6,350.

The Home Renovation Incentive scheme has been extended to the end of 2018 while the Living City Initiative has been expanded to include landlords.

Relief from VRT has been extended for both electric and hybrid cars.

The finance minister announced plans to implement an incentive for share based remuneration in next years budget and also indicated that a sugar-tax would be implemented and aligned with the corresponding measure in the UK (c. April 2018).  

Mr Noonan, interestingly in response to the release of the Panama Papers earlier this year, also indicated that Offshore tax defaulters will not be able to avail of the voluntary disclosure regime and he is seeking mandatory criminal procedures for such offenders.

He also announced plans to review the legislation which has controversially allowed so-called 'vulture funds' to pay very little tax under section 110 of the Taxes Consolidation Act. Another item under review is the non-recovery of VAT for the charity sector.

More in depth analysis to follow on some of the more common announcements made today.

It's that wonderful time of year again where you get to part with your hard earned cash and hand it over to the good people in the Revenue Commissioners. Or, for some of the luckier folk, you get to get some cash back from them!

The filing deadline for your 2013 income tax return is Friday 31 October 2014. For those of you who file your return and pay on ROS (Revenue's On-line Service), however, you can avail of the extended deadline on Thursday 13 November 2014.

For those of you who have had to submit income tax returns before, you know what it is all about. For those of you who don't know, it is basically the means in which you report any self-assessed income that you earned during the year and calculate the tax payable on it. Basically, it includes any income that you have earned outside a salary which is subject to PAYE such as: 

• self-employment, 
• rental income, 
• foreign income,
• bank interest, 
• dividends etc.
  

Failure to report any self-assessed income to Revenue can result in: 

• penalties for the late filings of tax returns, 
• interest on the late payment of any tax due on the unreported income,
  
• your name published on a tax defaulters list.

In some instances, this income may just need to be reported and no additional tax may arise. In fact, as stated above, some people may often actually even receive a refund of tax which may be due to an under claim of tax credits, a trading loss or a medical expense claim.

If you are in doubt about whether you should be submitting a tax return, leave a comment below or get in touch and I'll be happy to let you know if you need to do so.

The vast majority of us are paid wages by our employers. In most cases, from my experience, people do not know what tax credits are available to them and what they are actually claiming.

I've listed some of the main tax credits available below. There are many others, of course, but you should make sure that you are claiming all available to you. And, don't forget, you can also still make a back-claim for the previous 4 years too.

Personal credit
This credit is available to everyone resident in Ireland. The tax credit available is €1,650 for a single person and €3,300 for a married couple per year. This credit will cover any tax on any income up to €8,250 and €16,500 respectively.

PAYE credit
If you work for someone else, who is not a relation, you are also entitled to a further tax credit of €1,650 per year. The credit is also available to those receiving taxable social welfare payments.

Medical expenses
All qualifying medical expenses can be claimed as a tax credit at a rate of 20%. For example, if you spent €200 in a year on medical expenses, you receive a tax credit of €40.

For dental expenses, they must be non-routine treatments which are listed here.

To claim your medical expenses, you can make the claim on-line through PAYE Anytime or by submitting a Form Med 1 or Form Med 2 (i.e. for dental expenses) to your local Revenue office.

Rent tax credit
Strictly speaking, this credit is no longer available to those seeking to claim it for the first time. However, if you were renting a residential property on or before 7 December 2010, you will be able to claim the credit which currently amounts to €160 per year provided that the rent paid in the year was over €800.

Single person child carer credit
This credit of €1,650 is available to a single parent with a qualifying child living with them.

Home carer's credit
A credit of €810 is available to a married person who principally stays at home to mind a dependant (i.e. a child or older person). The claimant cannot have income in excess of €5,080 in the year and the joint income of the married couple cannot exceed €41,800.

The above are the main credits availed of, however, there are many others including Start Your Own Business Relief, Tuition Fees, Blind persons credit, Age credit credit etc. Most of these can be claimed on PAYE Anytime but also by calling your local Revenue Office.


So, you should check your tax credit certificate to ensure that you are receiving all the credits available to you. If you have any questions on any of these, let me know in the comments below.