Tax Code
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-09
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I thank the Deputies for their questions. To recap my position, I have tried to outline why, to date, there has always been a policy differential in the threshold for goods and services. There is some validity to that. The Deputy is right that there are some European countries that might have a higher threshold than Ireland, but Ireland certainly has one of the higher thresholds, so we are certainly at the upper end in Europe. I am quite comfortable with that, by the way, as I think it ensures we are exempting small businesses from that administrative burden.
The Deputy did not ask directly, but I want to put this on the record of the House because it is useful for the Deputy’s work. If we were to increase the €42,500 to €85,000 for services and, in other words, equalise it, this would cost in the region of €100 million. At this stage, it is useful to put that out there.
We cannot differentiate between the self-employed and the family-run. I am not saying that is what Deputy Heneghan is looking for me to do, but I know what he is looking for me to do, which is to better support them. We want to do that. We can differentiate between the sectors but we cannot differentiate between ownership types.
I will keep under review for forthcoming budgets the broader point that Deputy Heneghan makes. We have taken some actions in this budget to try to assist small and medium businesses. Deputy Conway-Walsh referenced the selling of scones. I am very proud of the reduction that we are making to VAT in the hospitality sector, although some are not. I think it is going to make a big difference to people because it is effectively reducing the cost of running a café, a restaurant or a pub that serves lunch. At a time when there is so much external pressure on the Irish and European economy, it is prudent to try to support jobs and those who create the jobs in that sector.
We have also made changes to the R and D tax credit. That is often talked about as an FDI initiative and foreign direct investment benefits from it. Interestingly, the larger number of applications for it are from Irish companies, many of which are SMEs and microenterprises. We need to get more information out about that to further encourage the uptake. I will reflect on what both Deputies have said.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:26+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-09