It is \u201cnot possible\u201d to apply a 9% VAT rate to home heating oil under the VAT Directive, T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris has said.<\/p>\n
In written answers to the D\u00e1il, the Fine Gael Minister said the VAT rating of goods and services is \u201csubject to EU VAT law, with which Irish VAT law is obliged to comply.\u201d<\/p>\n
The remarks came in response to questions from Independent Ireland TD Ken O\u2019Flynn and Labour TD Ged Nash, who both asked about cutting the rate on kerosene from 13.5% to 9%, in line with the temporary rate applied to domestic gas and electricity.<\/p>\n
Cork North-Central TD Ken O\u2019Flynn asked what rate currently applies, the estimated full-year cost of reducing it to 9%, and whether any such reduction was under consideration.<\/p>\n
Louth TD Ged Nash asked for the projected cost of a 9% rate for 2027 and the additional cost of introducing it from the 6th of October.<\/p>\n
Harris did not provide the cost figures sought. He said that, in general, the EU VAT Directive provides that all goods and services are liable to VAT at the standard rate unless they are exempt or fall within the categories listed in Annex III, to which Member States may apply lower rates subject to certain rules.<\/p>\n
The Minister said home heating oil is not among the products on which a lower rate is allowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHome heating oil is not included in the categories of goods and services on which the EU Directive allows a lower rate of VAT,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said a Member State may retain certain long-standing VAT arrangements that were already in place, subject to strict conditions, including that the terms of the historic arrangement cannot be extended.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn this basis, Ireland is permitted to retain its long-standing application of its reduced VAT rate \u2013 which is currently 13.5% \u2013 to the supply of hydrocarbon oil of a kind used for domestic or industrial heating fuel,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n
The Minister said a 9% rate could not be applied.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not possible to apply a 9% VAT rate to home heating oil under the VAT Directive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Households that use home heating oil have faced higher prices this year amid international volatility linked to the conflict in Iran and disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Harris described the current energy crisis as \u201cthe worst the world has ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coalition leaders have said targeted financial relief for utility customers will be set out when the Budget is announced next month.<\/p>\n
Domestic gas and electricity remain subject to a temporary 9% VAT rate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is \u201cnot possible\u201d to apply a 9% VAT rate to home heating oil under the VAT Directive,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[14258,72,4990,113,176,61,60],"class_list":["post-639587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-ben-scallan","tag-business","tag-economics","tag-economy","tag-finance","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}