Taoiseach Simon Harris has confirmed he will asked for the Dáil to be dissolved this week and for a General Election to be called for the end of this month.

One of the last major pieces of legislation that needs to be passed is currently being discussed on the floor of the Dáil and tomorrow will be approved by the Seanad. The Finance Bill brings into effect the changes to tax codes and treatments outlined in the budget.

It is a deeply technical piece of legislation but this year’s includes an important couple of elements on sport that have been lobbied for by the Federation of Irish Sport over many years.

These include the ability for offsetting of tax on donations to sporting bodies.

This could transform the position of philanthropy in Ireland as it relates to sport, something we have long lagged behind the United States and even the UK in.

The Sporting bodies, the kind of projects the donation can support, and the tax status of both the donor and the beneficiary will all have to meet certain criteria, laid out in detail over 14 pages of the Finance Act itself.

Once passed it will be a key element of planning for next year for sporting bodies to determine how they can qualify and make it as easy as possible for individuals to participate.

That will give an advantage to the better funded and already better resourced sporting bodies but hopefully it will create a demand for those who might want to give back to do the legwork on behalf of others with less of a skillset in this area and have the benefit spread across the whole of the sporting spectrum.

It will be complex but not beyond the wit of a good financial or legal mind and this will become a real priority now for sport to move one step beyond a reliance on state funding.

It has to be considered a big win and we can only hope that the passing of the Bill into law is completed over the next 24 hours.

 

 

 

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