---

Call for fresh approach to simplifying tax system

An organisation that represents businesses in Ireland and Britain has called for the creation of a new Office for Tax Reform.

The British Irish Chamber of Commerce says that such an office, modelled on the UK’s Office of Tax Simplification, would make recommendations to Government on how to simplify what it described as “the burdensome nature” of the Irish tax system for businesses.

The call comes in the chamber’s submission to the Commission on Taxation and Welfare.

The organisation says that the new body should aim to alleviate “unnecessary time delays and costs imposed upon businesses by the layering of additional rules in recent years”.

‘Confusion and contradictions’

The chamber argues that the introduction of new obligations – such as the Anti-Tax-Avoidance Directive (ATAD) and the OECD’s Base Erosion Profit Shifting (BEPS) measures – without reforming the wider tax system is leading to “unnecessary confusion and contradictions between tax rules”.

Its submission also calls on the commission to simplify the tax credit for research and development, so that smaller Irish-owned businesses can more easily avail of the measure.

The chamber also wants the Capital Gains Tax Entrepreneurial Relief to be raised to €15 million, and its scope expanded to cover dividends.

Paul Lynam (deputy director-general of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce) said that simplifying the complex tax system for businesses, and addressing the tax burden on employees, were two key tools in securing Ireland’s position as a location of choice for investment.

He added that “overly complex” tax rules were not only reducing Irish firms’ growth potential, but also choking off a potential source of revenue for the exchequer.