Finance Minister Paschal Donohue said some of Ireland’s largest domestic companies could end up taxing the G7’s preferred interest rate of 15 per cent.
Mr Donohoe said Rish’s multinationals could end up among the large global corporations subject to the proposed lowest corporate tax global tax rate of 15%.
If so, they would pay tax here on top of the standard Irish rate of 12.5%.
Meanwhile, the minister said the G7 plan drawn up over the weekend would mean a blow to Ireland, calculated as a loss of €2 billion a year in corporate tax income by mid-2020, starting with lower incomes from next year.
He said this had been expected since the Finance Ministry forecast in 2019 and would not have to be compensated with higher income from other taxes.
The finance minister said the imposition of the corporate tax here would depend on the final parameters of a global tax deal.
He declined to specify which individual companies the G7 plan could take over, but said it could apply based on how much business the tax would hit. Ireland’s largest multinationals include Ryanair, CRH and Kerry.
He said he expects to complete this deal by the end of this year.
Minister Donohue said Ireland would push for the right of small nations to legitimately defend the cause of legitimate tax competition between nations.
«I will defend the cause of legitimate tax competition and the power of small economies like ours and set our rate at 12.5%.»
“I am a strong advocate of our rate and the role of legitimate tax competition.
It is too early to say that an agreement can be reached on a future rate, and if that number will be 15 per cent.”