Budget 2018 Summary of Changes
Stamp Duty on Commercial property sales will rise from 2% to 6% from 11th October 2017
Vacant Site Levy – increasing from 3% to 7% in the second year of undeveloped land remaining vacant.
Mortgage interest relief was already due to be abolished entirely after 31 December 2017. Budget 2018 announced that it will now be gradually reduced. It will be 75% in 2018, 50% in 2019 and 25% in 2020. Zero from 2021 onwards.
Prescription charges for under 70s – reduced from €2.50 per item to €2 (Jan 1st 2018)
Drugs Payment Scheme – Monthly threshold to be reduced from €144 to €134 (Jan 1st 2018)
Tobacco: Pack of 20 cigarettes to rise by 50c
New Sugar Tax : Details Here
Higher VAT on Sunbed treatments – rising from 13.5%to 23%
Continued …..
State Pension : Will be Increased by €5 a week from March 2018
Welfare Benefits : All working age benefits to increase by €5 a week from the end of March 2018 . (applies to the full rate – people on lower rates will get less). More here about this.
The Qualified Child Increase that applies to most welfare benefits will rise by €2 a week from €29.80 to €31.80 a week
Welfare Christmas Bonus : Will be 85% again for Christmas 2017
New telephone support payment of €2.50 per week only for those on the living alone allowance.
Fuel allowance period to be increased by an extra week in 2018
Earnings disregard for One parent Family Payment rising by €20 a week.
FIS qualification threshold rising by €10 a week
Childcare : TheEarly Years Care and Education (ECCE) Will be extended in Sept 2018 from current average entitlement of 61 weeks to 76 weeks
Income Tax : Overall €335 million worth of tax cuts for workers. Changes will take effect from Jan 1st 2018
The threshold for the higher rate of 40 for income tax will rise by €750 from €33,800 to €34,550.
More details on Income Tax Changes here
Home Carer Tax Credit to be increased from €1,100 to €1,200
Self Employed : An increase in the Earned Income Credit from €950 to €1,150
USC Reductions : The 2.5% rate will be lowered to 2% . The threshold for this rate will rise to €19372 to tie in with new minimum wage rate . The 5% rate of USC will drop to 4.75%. More details Here
Tax Relief for Landlords – a new deduction for tax purposes is to be introduced for “pre – letting expenses” incurred on a property that has been vacant for a period of 12 months or more. A cap of €5,000 per property will apply, and the relief will be subject to clawback if the property is withdrawn from the rental market within 4 years. The relief will be available to the end of 2021
DIRT (Deposit Interest Retention Tax) – wasn’t mentioned but a 2% reduction for 2018 is already legislated for since Budget 2016 – so it will be 37% from Jan 2018
(source Moneyguideireland)
