Minister’s Brief

Detail:
Finance Bill Process, Tax Administration, Capital Taxes
Finance Bill process
There is a statutory requirement that the Finance Bill is enacted 4 months from Budget day.
However, under the EU regulations a common budgetary timeline was introduced for all Euro
area Member States. Specifically:
- the draft budget for central government and the main parameters of the draft budgets
for all the other sub-sectors of the general government must be published by the 15th of
October each year;
- draft budgetary plans in a common format must be submitted by all Euro area Member
States not in a programme of assistance; and
- the budget for the central government must be adopted or fixed upon and published by
the 31st of December each year.
From 2013 onwards, Budget Day has been on or before the 15th of October. The Finance Bill
also completes its passage through the Oireachtas by the 31st of December each year. This is
in line with EU legal requirements.
The Finance Bill, which is a Money Bill, addresses all tax measures included in the Budget
which require legislative provision or amendment. It also addresses measures related to tax
administration, Revenue powers and the statutory imposition of anti-avoidance measures.
The Bill is drafted through close consultation between the Department, Revenue and the
Attorney General’s Office, subject to approval of all measures by the Minister.
Capital Taxes
Tax Head 2007 (€m) 2013 (€m) 2014 (€m) 2015 (€m) 2016(e)(€m)
CAT 392 279 357 400 375
CGT 3,105 369 561 669 590
Stamp Duty 3,244 1,333 1,687 1,268 1,320
Capital Gains Tax (CGT)
CGT is charged on the value of the capital gain made on the disposal of an asset, whether by
sale or gift. All classes of assets are covered by CGT, but the majority of the yield relates to
property and equity transactions. The significant drop in the CGT yield since its peak in 2007 is
due to declining asset values and a reduction in the number of property and share
transactions. Liability to CGT is determined by the difference, at the time of disposal of an
asset, between the cost of acquisition and the value at the time of disposal. The 2014 and
2015 yields from CGT were higher than projected; by 40% in 2014. This increase related to a
Page 48 of 184