-
Aviation Advisory
Our dedicated Aviation Advisory team bring best-in-class expertise across modelling, lease management, financial accounting and transaction execution as well as technical services completed by certified engineers.
-
Consulting
Our Consulting team guarantees quick turnarounds, lower partner-to-staff ratio than most and superior results delivered on a range of services.
-
Business Risk Services
Our Business Risk Services team deliver practical and pragmatic solutions that support clients in growing and protecting the inherent value of their businesses.
-
Deal Advisory
Our experienced Deal Advisory team has provided a range of transaction, valuation, deal advisory and restructuring services to clients for the past two decades.
-
Forensic Accounting
Our Forensic and Investigation Services team have targeted solutions to solve difficult challenges - making the difference between finding the truth or being left in the dark.
-
Financial Accounting and Advisory
Our FAAS team designs and implements creative solutions for organisations expanding into new markets or undertaking functional financial transformations.
-
Restructuring
Grant Thornton is Ireland’s leading provider of insolvency and corporate recovery solutions.
-
Risk Advisory
Our Risk Advisory team delivers innovative solutions and strategic insights for the Financial Services sector, addressing disruptive forces, regulatory changes, and emerging trends to enhance risk management and foster competitive advantage.
-
Sustainability Advisory
Our Sustainability Advisory team works with clients to accelerate their sustainability journey through innovative and pragmatic solutions.
-
Corporate Accounting and Outsourcing
At Grant Thornton we have extensive knowledge and experience in providing tailored solutions to our clients, whether on a short-term or long-term basis.
-
Financial Services Audit
Our Financial Services Audit team offers expertise and knowledge along with a horizontal approach to solving clients’ problems and queries.
-
Global Statutory Audit
Our Global Statutory Audit team ensures your statutory audit process follows a well-defined project plan, with no surprises, to maintain compliance across multiple jurisdictions. We invest time to understand your finance function and develop bespoke solutions built on the premise of central effort to remove duplication.
-
Pension Audit
The Grant Thornton Pension Audit team has vast experience in managing schemes and preparing annual reports on them for clients.
-
Corporate Tax
Our Corporate Tax team is made up of more than 40 highly experienced senior partners and directors who work directly with a wide range of domestic and international clients; covering Corporation Tax, Company Secretarial, Employer Solutions, Global Mobility and Tax Incentives.
-
Financial Services Tax
The Grant Thornton team is made up of experts who are fully up to date in terms of changing and evolving tax legislation. This is combined with industry expertise and an in-depth knowledge of the evolving financial services regulatory landscape.
-
Indirect Tax Advisory & Compliance
Grant Thornton’s team of indirect tax specialists helps a range of clients across a variety of sectors including pharmaceuticals, financial services, construction and property and food to navigate these complexities.
-
International Tax
We develop close relationships with clients in order to gain a deep understanding of their businesses to ensure they make the right operational decisions. The wrong decision on how a company sells into a new market or establishes a new subsidiary can have major tax implications.
-
Private Client
Grant Thornton’s Private Client Services team can advise you on all areas of financial, pension, investment, succession and inheritance planning. We understand that each individual’s circumstances are different to the next and we tailor our services to suit your specific needs.
Receive the latest insights, news and more direct to your inbox.
For many life sciences companies investing in Ireland for the first time, the Research and Development (R&D) tax credit is the single most attractive feature of our tax system. It provides much needed cash for the business in that crucial pre revenue stage. For more advanced stage companies, including many successful Irish indigenous businesses, the R&D tax credit is equally beneficial, providing a significant incentive to those businesses to locate and retain their R&D activities here.
Budget 2025 is the perfect opportunity to further enhance a tax incentive that has been consistently proven to more than pay for itself.
How will R&D tax credit enhancements benefit life sciences?
Most companies in the life sciences sector incur significant expenditure on both people and assets. The R&D tax credit can generate substantial savings that relieve cost pressure for companies, whether they are pre-revenue or at a more developed stage.
With the global minimum tax rate of 15% now implemented in Ireland for larger groups, we are less competitive on the corporation tax front. The Knowledge Development Box has failed to gather traction for several reasons, meaning that the R&D tax credit takes on added importance.
Two particular enhancements will further boost Ireland’s attractiveness as a place to locate high value-add, innovative activities. Such enhancements will benefit all sectors but particularly an innovative one such as life sciences.
Change 1: Increase the R&D tax credit to 35%
Last year’s increase in the R&D tax credit to 30% was very welcome although for larger groups its interaction with the new global minimum tax rules meant that the status quo was maintained.
Many European countries offer an equally attractive R&D tax credit regime; we need to make sure that Ireland’s equivalent stands up well in comparison.
An increase in the R&D tax credit to 35% would provide a boost to smaller groups carrying out R&D in Ireland and mean a real increase in the relief for larger groups within the ambit of the new global minimum tax rules.
An increase in the credit should not cost the Exchequer in real terms because the extra activities generated should mean that it can more than pay for itself.
Ireland needs to look at attracting further high value-add activities as part of its long-term strategic planning. Any initial investment required would have a short payback period, with the Exchequer in a particularly strong position to make that investment.
Change 2: Shorten the refund timeline from three years to two
Finance Act 2022 introduced amendments that brought the R&D tax credit into alignment with Pillar Two, specifically the definition of a “qualified refundable tax credit.”
As a result of these changes, Revenue now pays out the R&D tax credit using a 50-30-20 split over a three-year period. Receiving 50 percent of the credit in the first year was a big boost for many businesses, including many in the life sciences sector with heavy investment requirements.
Given the robust state of the Exchequer, Ireland now has the ability now to reduce the payment period to two years. Companies could receive 50% of the credit in year one and 50% in year two, significantly boosting cashflow and enabling further investment in R&D.
Indeed, the change would have no net cost to the Exchequer other than cashflow, but for businesses, it would be a significant boost. Now is the perfect opportunity now to make impactful changes to help secure the long-term future of a key part of the economy.