A heavy smoker from the midlands who drives long distances in their diesel-powered car and burns through a lot of fossil fuel to keep themselves warm in winter will bear the brunt of Budget 2020.
The increase in Carbon Tax will add €1.02 to the cost of 60 litres of petrol and €1.18 to the same volume of diesel, while a 900-litre home heating delivery will cost an additional €15.
A 12.5 kg bag of peat will cost 16 cent more and about 72 cent has been added to the price of a 40kg bag of coal.
Other measures which will benefit some people include an increase of €100 in the home carer tax credit to €1,600 while the self-employed tax credit goes up by €150 to €1,500. For most other people, the impact of a budget which has been “developed in the shadow of Brexit” will go almost unnoticed.
As had been widely flagged, there were no changes to the wider personal tax regime while social welfare payments were largely untouched.
Business Enterprise & Innovation measures
– €1 billion / 2% increase to the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation.
– €10 million will be allocated to a Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund.
– EIIS scheme give full income tax relief in year of investment rather than spread as before; investment limit raised to €250k.
– An annual investment limit of €500,000 will be introduced for investors who are prepared to invest in the EIIS for > 10 years.
– R&D tax credit increased from 25% to 30% for micro and small companies.
– KEEP rules loosened (Key Employee Engagement Programme).
– SARP (Special Assignee Relief Programme) extension to 2022 for FDI companies to recruit and attract staff.
Read full report here https://www.osk.ie/site/assets/files/1738/budget_2020_osk.pdf