Have you been refused credit by the banks for loans of up to €250,000?
The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation this week announced that the Microfinance Scheme will be open for business from Monday 1st October.
Applications for businesses and sole traders across all sectors employing up to ten people who have been refused credit by the banks for loans of up to €250,000 will be accepted and processed. Criteria, guides and application forms can be found at County and City Enterprise Boards and at www.enterpriseboards.ie
Contact us at Noone Casey for advice on the Microfinance Scheme and how it can benefit you.
The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General for 2011 has been published. In relation to tax and Revenue it includes a number of interesting points:
• Income tax receipts increased by a net €2.5 billion (bn) in 2011 when compared with 2010, reflecting the introduction of the Universal Social Charge (USC) and the reduction in tax bands and credits.
• Tax forecasting has been made more difficult with the emergence of significant corporation tax losses. The utilisation of losses in 2010 is estimated to have reduced potential corporation tax receipts by €2.75bn.
• A new debt analysis tool was introduced on a pilot basis in February to allow Revenue case workers prioritise the recovery of debt by reference to the age of the debt. It also allows them to determine the type and timing of interventions to maximise recovery.
• Total tax outstanding at the end of March 2012 was just under €2bn. The two largest categories of debt outstanding are income tax and VAT. Overall, about one third of the debt outstanding was under appeal.
• 3 economic sectors accounted for 59% of the total tax written off in 2011; construction, wholesale and retail trade and accommodation and food services. The majority of these write offs arose due to liquidations and the trade ceasing with insufficient liquid assets
Thanks to the Institute of Tax for the above summary.
Since the enactment of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2008 any Commercial Tenant is entitled to opt out of his Statutory entitlement to a further Lease of between five and twenty years which automatically arises after leasing a Commercial Premises for five years or more.
The Government projections for additional revenue from the Vat increase are already in doubt and finance minister Michael Noonan has admitted as much, according to The Sunday Independent.
A cap on retirement income would be preferable to any further reductions in tax relief on pension contributions, according to the Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton. But the days of people in their 50s retiring on pensions of €150,000 are numbered because Ireland can no longer afford such largesse.
