The Minister for Finance has said that the country's longstanding 12.5% Corporation Tax rate will not be changing.
Paschal Donohoe noted that Corporate Tax revenue has been growing strongly, adding that a significant part of the growth for this year is due to changes in international accounting standards.
He said that about €0.7bn of the 2018 over-performance is estimated as a a once-off and as these receipts are not expected to repeat next year, they do not feature in projecting receipts for 2019.
The Minister said that as a result, he would put aside some of this revenue for the Rainy Day Fund.
He noted that this is a time of significant global change for business and his focus is on maintaining a competitive, outward facing business environment, while ensuring the country's tax regime is "transparent, sustainable and legitimate".
New Controlled Foreign Company rules, in line with the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive, will be introduced in the Finance Bill.
He also said he would introduce a new ATAD compliant Exit Tax regime - to come into effect from midnight - which will apply at a rate of 12.5% on any unrealised gains where a company migrates or transfers assets offshore.
The new tax had been expected to come in next year.
Peter Vale, Tax Partner at Grant Thornton Ireland, said this measure represented one of the biggest surprises in the Budget from a corporate tax perspective.
"While the reduction in the tax rate from 33% to 12.5% was not unexpected, the introduction from midnight of new tighter rules that impose the exit tax in line with more stringent EU rules was not anticipated," he said.
"Under EU rules, Ireland was obliged to tighten its exit tax rules, but not before 1 January 2020. The early adoption of the new rules is a surprise. While the Minister announced that the new rules were brought forward to provide certainty to businesses, the surprise element is never welcome," he added.
In his Budget speech, Mr Donohoe also said he was allocating funding of €950m to the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation in 2019 year - up 9% on the previous year.
"SMEs provide most of our employment and additional Government support for this sector is crucial in light of Brexit," he added.
He also said he would extend the three year tax relief for certain start-up SMEs until the end of 2021.
Mr Donohoe said that availability of credit is a key consideration for all businesses, adding that he was aware of the growth of crowd funding.
He said he believes that crowdfunding can play an important role in broadening competition in the SME finance market.
To this end, the Department of Finance will begin work, in conjunction with the Central Bank, on the regulation of this type of funding.
"As part of this process, will review the withholding tax obligations for peer-to-peer lending activities, with a view to their amendment as appropriate following the introduction of reguation," Mr Donohoe said.
