Full coverage: Tax

An Irish businessman challenged an assessment by the Revenue Commissioners on a hefty pension distribution, claiming that he was living in Malta and had no home available to him in Ireland.

Five Irish restaurants pulled down the shutters in the first two days of the year and experts say two a week could close this year. Yet, planning applications for new eateries continue to surge. Is it simply healthy competition, or have we reached peak restaurant?

Changes in last year’s budget meant that Henderson Park faced an unforeseen €65m tax hit on its €1.34bn acquisition of Green Reit. The London firm did not take it lying down.

There are many tax pitfalls for the unwary corporate globetrotters. Yet, the management of foreign subsidiaries is one of the few occasions where corporate governance and tax planning can assume equal importance.

Led by Germany, core EU countries are preparing to tax equity trading. Yet research shows that to reinforce financial stability, policy should instead encourage equity investment and tax debt.

The Currency’s new tax columnist Eoin O’Shea went through cases decided by the body dealing with taxpayer appeals against Revenue decisions, and was reminded of this verse by Robert Burns: “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men, gang aft agley.”

Dublin accountants Adrian Dunne and Michael Humphreys made substantial property investments during the Celtic Tiger era. Now they are fighting the Revenue Commissioners in the High Court over their boom time tax bills.

The complex corporate web used to manage the Coolmore horseracing business and its owners’ other investments makes it difficult to estimate their wealth. This matters for a number of reasons – and Magnier’s position on the national rich list is the least of them.

The OECD is proposing that technology giants face a global minimum level of corporate taxation. What is it going to be, and what will it mean for Ireland’s fabled 12.5% rate?

The finance minister clearly believes that the persistent use of aggressive structures is impacting his ability to defend Ireland’s reputation. And given some of the wily tactics being deployed, it is hard to disagree.