BoI swaps 25 paintings for €2m tax credit

BANK OF IRELAND has received a €2 million tax credit after it handed over 25 paintings from its art collection to the Revenue Commissioners.

The collection includes a Jack B Yeats painting, Eileen Aroon, which is valued at €800,000.

Bank of Ireland can now use the €2m credit to pay for past, current or future tax liabilities, Revenue said.

Bank of Ireland has been through a tumultuous period, climaxing in a dramatic EGM last March at which bank bosses apologised to shareholders over their management.

Last November, Bank of Ireland said its pre-tax profits for the six months to the end of last September fell by a third, to €650m.

Bank of Ireland has benefited from a €3.5 billion state bailout.

A bank spokeswoman said the donation was not linked to their current financial circumstances and the decision had been made last year. “This donation was made following an internal review which concluded that an organisation such as IMMA [Irish Museum of Modern Art] is much better placed to properly look after these artworks and maintain the integrity of these important works, so that they continue to be enjoyed by the public,” she said.

Section 1003 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 provides for a full credit against tax liability where a taxpayer donates certain heritage items to the national collection.

As well as the Jack B Yeats painting, the 25 pieces include Berlin Blues 1 by William Scott, worth €250,000 and Allegory by Louis le Brocquy, worth €200,000.

Bank of Ireland has about 2,000 pieces in its art collection.

A Revenue spokeswoman said it was not unusual for banks to avail of the scheme. She said AIB donated Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce in 2006, valued at €1.17m, as well as the Joyce Papers in 2003 and 2004.

She said it can take six months or more for donation applications to be processed.