No Changes to Income Tax?

The Minster of Finance has told us, repeatedly now, that there will be no changes to Income tax in Budget 2012.  Should we bother with the Red Oak  Budget 2012 Calculator then?  We think he’ll manage to squeeze in a few changes. First Up, the Bin Charges Tax Credit.

Service Charges Tax Credit

In Budget 2010 (December 2009), we were told that the Service Charges tax credit was to be abolished in Budget2011. This was after the Commission on Taxation recommended the tax credit be abolished (in case you missed it, they repeated the recommendation no less than 6 times in the report). In their own words:
“We consider that there is no sound rationale for tax relief on service charges. We therefore recommend that the relief be discontinued”

But when we got to Budget 2011 last December, there was no mention of it and the tax credit continued to be available in 2011.

Budget 2012 Prediction

However we do think it would be strange to introduce a Property Tax with one hand, while giving it back with the other. So we do expect the Service Charges Tax Credit to be abolished in Budget 2012. This will cost you up to €80 per year in lost tax credits.

John O’Connor,

Red Oak Tax Refunds