Thousands in PAYE refunds available under Sure start-up scheme

By Tim Harkins

The Government is to give away thousands of euro to PAYE employees who start up their own businesses.

According to the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, entrepreneurs may be entitled to an income tax refund of up to 41 per cent of the capital funding they invest in the company under the new Startup Refunds for Entrepreneurs (Sure) scheme.

“Depending on the size of your investment you may be entitled to a refund of PAYE income tax that you paid over the six years before the year in which you invest,” says the Sure website.

For an example of how the scheme works, if one makes an investment of €50,000 in 2015 in a new company, it qualifies for Sure so the €50,000 investment made can be used to reduce the entrepreneur’s taxable income in one or more of the previous six tax years.

If the same individual paid income tax of €10,312 in the 2014 tax year, and has previously not received a full or partial refund of tax paid in that year, they will receive a Sure refund of the full amount of the tax paid in that year.

“I think this programme can be very successful,” said award-winning entrepreneur and founder of the Jaipur restaurant brand, Asheesh Dewan. “If someone is sitting on the fence this could be a big incentive to invest in small business.”

The refund comes with a few conditions. The money must be used to establish a new company which is defined as less than two years old. The company must also be carrying on a qualified trading activity and it must not have taken over an existing trade.

Businesses that are not eligible are those that have recently closed down but are being reopened in the same location, such as a pub changing ownership.

Dewan believes the impetus behind the Sure scheme “may be because Ireland is losing investment capital to the UK, which is a bigger market.”

He also urged all budding entrepreneurs considering starting their first business to take up the offer.

“€10,000 in tax refunds can make a big difference for a small business,” he said.