The Report of the Commission on Taxation was published on the 7th September 2009.
A summary of the key recommendations of the Commission are set out below;

• Introduction of Annual property tax on all residential housing units with exception of local authority and social housing units and some other limited exceptions.
• A recurrent property tax on land zoned for development should be introduced.
• Stamp duty for purchasers of principal private residences should be abolished.
• Stamp duty should continue to apply to investor purchasers of residential housing units. The rate should be competitive having regard to the transaction tax rates and thresholds that apply across the EU.
• The windfall gains from increases in land values due to rezoning decisions should be subject to an additional capital gains tax charge.
• The employee PRSI ceiling should be abolished & removal of income tax exemption from Social Welfare and Child Benefit Payments.
•  Taxes on labour should be kept low to support economic activity.
• Abolition of CGT and stamp duty exemptions on the disposal of a site to a child
• Restriction of the application of retirement relief (CGT exemption) on family transfers to asset values of €3 million.
• Restriction on the amount of business relief or agricultural relief that can be availed of on the transfer of business property or farming assets.
• Maintain the current standard rate of corporation tax at 12.5%.
• Revision of the preliminary tax payment rules for large companies so that all companies should be allowed to adopt a previous year option in relation to the payment of preliminary tax.
• Expansion of the list of buildings that qualify for capital allowances
• Corporation tax payable on gains on disposal of assets used for trading purposes should be at the rate applicable to trading profits.
• Reduction of the rate of stamp duty on all share transactions to zero.
• Reduction of  the tax rate on dividends received by Irish residents to the rate applying to deposit interest.
• Change to the tax treatment of a lump sum payable from a pension by capping of the amount that can be received as a tax free lump sum to €200,000. Any excess of the pension lump sum rover €200,000 would be taxable at the standard rate of income tax.
• Abolition of the following reliefs;
• Artist’s exemption
• Capital gains tax exemption which currently applies to philanthropic and sports bodies in respect of disposals of development land
• Capital allowances for childcare facilities/crèches
• Tax exemption for patent royalties/patent dividends
• Income tax relief for expenditure on heritage buildings and gardens (Significant Buildings Allowance)
• Tax relief currently claimed by the self employed in respect of charitable donations to
• be treated in same way as PAYE earners i.e. tax relief is paid to charity instead.
• Rent-a-room relief
• Stock relief for farming businesses

A Budget is due to be published by the Minister of Finance in early December if any changes are to happen to the Taxes Acts they will be announced on that day and will be effective from that date.

Note
The material contained in this article is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or other professional advice. While every care has been taken in the preparation of the information on this site, visitors are advised to seek specific tax and/or legal advice in relation to any decision or course of action.