Ireland: Tax regime for investment funds enhanced

Gerry Thornton		Kevin Smith

The just-enacted Finance Act 2012 introduces some welcome measures for the Irish investment funds industry. The improvements focus on facilitating the inbound (and outbound) cross-border mergers of funds, with a view particularly to UCITS IV, together with specific reliefs for both the amalgamation of funds and the switching of units in foreign funds. The main improvements from an international perspective are described below.

Inbound cross-border mergers and migrations

The Act introduces a number of measures which will enhance investment funds'' ability to migrate into Ireland or merge with Irish funds.

Inward migrations Irish funds generally need to obtain a declaration from non-Irish investors confirming that they are resident outside Ireland. However, the Act puts on a legislative footing an administrative practice that permits funds which migrate into Ireland to dispense with this requirement for their existing investors, once the fund itself makes a straightforward declaration to the...