Jobs strategy based on tax and investment scheme

THE retention of the 12.5% rate of corporation tax and expansion of business investment schemes are the key features of the budget’s enterprise strategy.

The existing three-year corporation tax exemption is being extended to new companies starting up in 2011 but, to try to boost job creation, reliefs will be calculated so that they are linked directly to the number of workers employed.

Also being extended is the PRSI exemption scheme introduced this year that exempts employers for one year from paying their share of social insurance contributions for new staff taken on who have been at least six months unemployed.