Irish Tax System – First Mover Or Last Defender Strategy

As the OECD/EU project on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting ("BEPS") moves towards its next set of reports in autumn 2015, Ireland Inc.'s low tax offering has been, and will be, further refined.

While the 12.5% corporate tax rate remains beyond approach both domestically and internationally, the BEPS initiative has been adopted by the Irish authorities as an opportunity to demonstrate that the Irish tax offering internationally is best in class. The next few months will be key in ensuring that the Irish tax system offers a platform to do business internationally without the spectre of international anti-avoidance in favour of the larger G8 and G20 economic member countries.

In Budget 2015, Michael Noonan, the Irish Minister for Finance, introduced measures to curtail the use of Irish incorporated but non-resident companies. Under the BEPS initiative, the colloquially known "Double Irish", alongside the "Double Sandwich" , was targeted. In the Finance Act, Minister