Crowe  Brexit

the UK, thereby leading to greater reliance on the Ireland/UK Double Taxation Agreement in order to avoid double taxation. This may entail some practical changes to how such income and gains are returned and reliefs claimed. Key Tax Reliefs in Jeopardy?  More worryingly perhaps, there are a range of reliefs – including for example, Group Relief, EIIS and the new flagship share incentive scheme, KEEP – that can be compromised by having a non-EEA company in a corporate structure. In light of the large presence of UK companies in Irish group structures, it might be expected that legislation will be introduced to ensure that such groups are not denied access to these reliefs, but until this is done that bugbear of business, uncertainty, again raises its head.

Responding to the Long-term Challenges

With all of the challenges that Brexit brings, it is important that the Irish tax system is supportive of business. This would be especially true if, as some suggest, the UK starts to use its tax system to compete aggressively with the EU. Some of the areas in which we could look to improve include: • Broadening the availability of Entrepreneur Relief by increasing the limit at which the special 10 per cent rate of CGT on business disposals applies from €1m to €10m; • Introducing a form of Investor Relief, along the lines of that introduced in the UK, that would extend some of the benefits of entrepreneur relief to investors who are not actively involved in the business, thereby opening up

a new avenue of funding for businesses; • Making the Employment Incentive and Investment Scheme (EIIS) fit for purpose, in contrast with the current position where mature businesses are largely excluded from it and where the difficulties that the scheme has encountered in complying with EU State aid guidelines have stalled take-up; • Address some of the restrictions, in particular around group structures that include overseas subsidiaries, which have led to a slow take-up of the new share incentive scheme, Key Employee Engagement Program (KEEP). Brexit is a headache that Irish business could do without, but now is the time for both business leaders and policymakers to prepare so as to be ready to face the challenges head-on when they arise.

Over 75 years supporting and growing Irish SMEs Crowe’s unrivalled expertise comes from advising and guiding owner-managed and family-owned Irish SMEs for over 75 years. We get to know you, as well as your business, so that we can understand the challenges you face and help foster growth, protect value and facilitate succession. Our success comes from helping Irish SMEs succeed. Audit / Tax / Advisory 246275_2L_Crowe Horwath_JM_BetterBuines.indd 1

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To see how we can help your business succeed, contact: Lisa Kinsella, Tax Partner T: +353 1 448 2200 E: lisa.kinsella@crowe.ie

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