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Calls to increase the Research and Development tax credit for businesses

PwC's Head of Tax Paraic Burke described the Government's Action Plan on Competitiveness as being very light on real actions that could be taken
PwC's Head of Tax Paraic Burke described the Government's Action Plan on Competitiveness as being very light on real actions that could be taken

PwC is recommending the Government increases the Research and Development (R&D) tax credit and to extend the definition of activities that qualify for R&D expenditure.

"Most people are people are looking for an increase to 35%," said PwC's Head of Tax Paraic Burke.

"They could also being in an innovation credit, for digital and cloud computing etcetera, to broaden out the type of industries they attract," he suggested.

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers will unveil the contents of Budget 2026 tomorrow afternoon.

Minister Donohoe said the Government focus is on infrastructure, jobs and housing.

But will this Budget improve Ireland's competitiveness or could a lot more action be needed after it?

Last month the Government launched its Action Plan on Competitiveness with promises to cut the regulatory 'burden' on firms.

Mr Burke has described the plan as being very light on real actions that could be taken.

"It'll be interesting to see three or four weeks later, when they have all the information, will they actually make actions?" he asked.

The Government also said the Budget focus is on infrastructure.

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Ireland's infrastructure is 25% lower than average for a high-income European country with deficits in housing, health, transport and electricity.

A VAT cut for new build apartments looks set to be introduced in the Budget in a bid to kick-start the building of stalled schemes.

Mr Burke said we need to make ourselves competitive so that the funds and various construction bodies will come into Ireland to do that work.

"They'll change the VAT rate, but what else will they do? That's the key thing to me," he said.

He believes the Government will announce one or two changes in relation to property when four or five are needed.

And when it comes to private businesses, he wants to see a simplification of the tax system.

"We talked about the R&D credit, 25% of large companies claim that but only 3% of small companies because it's too expensive to claim. They need to simplify things for private business, I'd love to see that in the budget," said Mr Burke.