Ireland ‘losing out’ on intellectual property tax

Ireland may be missing out on a global shift by multinationals to shift their intellectual property away from tax havens as the Government cannot afford to introduce a tax regime to compete with the UK and Luxembourg.

A parliamentary question by Deputy Roisin Shorthall revealed that since the Government introduced an intellectual property regime in 2009 firms had claimed €205 million in tax relief on intellectual property rights based in Ireland.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan said that companies which base their intellectual property here are entitled to tax reliefs based on the value of the asset.