FPM Chartered Accountants, Managing Partner, Feargal McCormack stated that he believed that businesses operating from the island of Ireland were now facing very stark challenges.  He acknowledged that the recent past trends of strong consumer demand, cheap credit and growing public expenditure was over.  He added, that “we are now facing a protracted reduction in domestic demand, tight credit controls for businesses and householders and reductions in public expenditure and public procurement”.  Feargal concluded his presentation by stating that it was his belief that the recovery had began and that it would be private sector export driven from the island of Ireland lead by an emphasis on encouraging new Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and developing exciting and new indigenous companies to grow in size and become more internationally competitive. 

The guest speaker at the event was Brian Keegan, Director of Taxation at Chartered Accountants Ireland.  In a very comprehensive presentation on contrasting trends in international taxation with trends in the UK and Ireland and on the island of Ireland in terms of business and taxation issues, Brian stressed the importance of basing your tax planning around profits and not expenditure and highlighted that across the world there is now zero tolerance for tax evasion.  He added that one of the consequences of the economic downturn has been slippage in tax revenues, not just in the UK, not just in Ireland but globally.  The Government simply do not have as much money to spend as they had and tackling tax evasion is seen as increasingly important. 

FPM Tax Partner Janette Burns interpreted important tax issues arising from the recent UK Budget.  In particular she highlighted the growing tax attractiveness of Enterprise Investment Schemes following George Osbourne’s recent budget. 

FPM Senior Partner, Paddy Harty focused on income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax and highlighted that he believed as a result of higher income taxes and lower corporation taxes that there would be a growing trend for businesses to consider transferring from sole trader and partnership businesses to limited companies to mitigate tax liabilities. 

FPM Senior Tax Manager, Niamh Higgins focused on the Universal Social Charge introduced and further enhanced in the recent Irish Budget whilst her colleague Desi Foley highlighted the significant new changes in Relevant Contracts Tax (RCT) in Ireland and the importance of having all your accounting records up to date and your tax affairs compliant in order to minimise your exposure to cash flow consequences of RCT. 

To conclude the presentations, FPM Senior Manager, Rory Ferguson made a presentation comparing and contrasting income tax, corporation tax and VAT in Northern Ireland relative to the Republic of Ireland and highlighting areas for smart tax planning. 

Following the presentations Gary McDonald chaired a very challenging and interesting Question and Answer session with the panel comprising Feargal McCormack, Paddy Harty, Brian Keegan and Janette Burns.