Ireland’s Finance Minister Michael Noonan has announced the crisis-racked country’s first austerity-free budget in seven years, and the phasing out a loophole that let multinationals slash their tax bills by billions.<br /><br />Under the so-called ‘Double Irish’ arrangement firms like Google and Apple could channel revenues to an Irish subsidiary, which passed it on to another company with a liability only in a tax haven such as Bermuda.<br /><br />Noonan said: “I am abolishing the ability of companies to use the ‘Double Irish’ by changing our residency rules to require all companies registered in Ireland to also be tax resident in Ireland.”<br /><br />That brings Irish law in line with US and British rules, but companies already using the loophole will have until the end of 2020 to stop.<br /><br />It is calculated 1,000 foreign firms have moved to Ireland to benefit from its tax code – creating around 160,000 jobs.<br /><br />The budget also gave a tax break to Irish citizens to offset part of new water charges, introduced as a condition for the EU/IMF bailout programme that ended last year. <br /><br />That move has caused anger with big demonstrations against what many saw as further austerity.<br /><br />with Reuters
