€950m tax take from IFSC firms, latest figures show

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has confirmed that the estimated tax paid by companies operating out of the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), in Dublin, totalled over €950 million in 2013.

In a breakdown provided to Fianna Fáil’s Michael McGrath, Mr Noonan stated that firms at the IFSC paid out an estimated €621m in corporation tax in 2013 and he said that the associated amount of PAYE and USC paid out by IFSC companies is tentatively estimated to be in the region of €332m.

The minister cautioned that “these estimates are tentative and should be considered as provisional, as they may be revised subject to improved information becoming available”.

The IFSC is now 28 years in place and employs 35,000, with 10,000 people employed outside Dublin.

The centre is host to half of the world’s top 50 banks and to half of the top 20 insurance companies. Merrill Lynch, Sumitomo Bank, ABN Amro, Citibank, AIG, JP Morgan (Chase), Commerzbank, BNP Paribas and EMRO are just some of the big-name operations that have chosen to locate in the area.

Mr Noonan said he has been advised by Revenue that it is not possible to precisely identify the contribution of companies in the IFSC.

He said: “There are however some indications of the size of this contribution. The estimated corporation tax paid in 2013 and 2014, by companies previously licensed to operate in the IFSC, is of the order of €497m and €545m respectively.”