Dominic Coyle

Dominic Coyle

Deputy Business Editor

Dominic Coyle is deputy business editor at The Irish Times, managing a team of 12 writers and editors providing business coverage throughout the paper and in dedicated business supplements across six days of the weeks. He also writes regularly for the paper, predominantly on pharmaceuticals, medical devices, pensions and personal finance, including a popular reader’s Q&A on personal finance matters.

There are essentially two ways property – including a joint account – can be held between two or more people
Making sense of tenants in common and joint tenants

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

You can claim tax relief for ongoing repairs and maintenance on your rented property. Photograph: Getty
‘Accidental landlord’ worries about ‘penal’ tax rate

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

US President Donald Trump speaks while holding up “Simple, Fair, ‘Postcard’ Tax Filing” cards as US house speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin (left) and Representative Kevin Brady, a Republican from Texas and chairman of the house ways and means committee, react during a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington. Photograph: Olivier Douliery / Bloomberg
US tax reform targets avoidance by multinationals

Tax expert says measures would hurt foreign multinationals with US affiliates and US companies that used ‘inversion’ deals to move(...)

Glanbia said it remains on target to deliver 7 per cent to 10 per cent earnings per share growth this year, excluding the impact of currency movements, as acquisitions drove growth in its key global performance nutrition (GPN) unit, which makes and sells protein shakes and bars.
Anglo banker acquitted on fraud and conspiracy charges, Smurfit Kappa unveils deals in Russia and Greece

Business Today: The best news, analysis and comment from ‘The Irish Times’ business desk

Dirt tax is levied at 39 per cent – down from 41 per cent last year – and it doesn’t matter how low the level of savings are or the amount of interest that has been paid. Illustration: Getty
Dealing with a sudden tax bill for ageing mother

Q&A: Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance questions

AIB has been reviewing records under Central Bank supervision since the end of 2015. Photograph: Cyril Byrne
AIB offers customer return to repossessed home

Bank admits error that led to repossession nearly three years ago in tracker mortgage review

A queue for unemployment benefit outside a social welfare office in Dublin. Photograph: Frank Miller
Will inheritance cost me my jobseeker’s allowance?

Q&A: Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance questions

AIB was issuing more than 30,000 mortgages a year in the three years up to 2008. According to the bank’s figures, between 10 and 14 per cent of its customers were on fixed rates. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien
Thousands more AIB customers could be eligible for redress

Those on fixed-rate mortgages in late 2008 should have been able to transfer to tracker

The United States is one of the countries with which Ireland has a bilateral social insurance agreement with. Photograph: iStock
Juggling social insurance across borders to get a pension

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

Is this why there is a crisis? Developers say it’s now more expensive to build apartments than it is three-bed semi-detached houses.
Apartments cost more to build than 3-bed semis, no 'upper limit' on tracker compensation

Business Today: The best news, analysis and comment from ‘The Irish Times’ business desk

The Government intends to introduce a universal savings scheme to increase pension coverage among private sector workers. Photograph: Alan Betson
Irish pension system slips in global rating table

State ranks 12th of 30 countries in Melbourne Mercer Global Pensions Index

Reader’s question: I have a joint account with my wife and approached AIB to query if funds might be held for legal process in the event in one of our deaths?
Will spouses have access to joint account after one dies?

Q&A: Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance questions

The Government has promised reform of the State pension system from 2020 but only for people who start work from that date. Photograph: Getty Images
Government will address pensions anomaly but only from 2020

FF can’t be trusted, says Doherty, as it ‘took credit for everything else in the Budget’

Brexiteers are outraged after the OECD’s annual report on the UK forecast dire tidings for that economy if a disorderly Brexit becomes reality and suggested a U-turn on the issue could deliver an economic bounce.
Just one in four victims compensated in tracker mortgage scandal

Business Today: The best news, analysis and comment from ‘The Irish Times’ business desk

“I could have stayed in Ireland on the dole and drawn from the government coffers for those nine years but I didn’t; I left at a time of 20 per cent-plus unemployment, was no longer a burden to the State.”
Working abroad and getting an Irish State pension

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

The issue of women’s pensions arose when Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe took questions on a radio programme the morning after the budget. Photograph: Colin Keegan/Collins
How did thousands of women lose out on their State pensions?

Q&A: Grievance relates to ‘bonkers law’ that forced women out of jobs decades ago

Commercial stamp duty: the decision to triple it left readers scratching their heads. Photograph: iStock/Getty
Stamp duty hike on commercial property deals dominates reader Q&A

Electric vehicles, welfare rates and personal tax changes also feature

An increase in excise duty on diesel was just one of several measures that had been widely expected to feature in Budget 2018 but which ultimately got no mention. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Budget 2018: the missing measures that never made the speech

Minister silent on list of measures that Government and Department of Finance had flagged ahead of the budget

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe announced no change in the Help to Buy incentive for first-time buyers after a report by consultants Indecon found that abolishing the scheme now would create uncertainty and damage confidence in the housing market. Photograph: Alan Betson
Consultants warned against ending Help to Buy

Indecon found no evidence of increase either in prices or supply in first eight months of three-year programme

Is there is any way we can ensure our child gets our home and does not incur a vast inheritance tax bill? Photograph: Chris Ison/PA Wire
Trying to dodge inheritance tax on family home bequeathed to son

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

Profits are up at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre - good news for owners Crownway Entertainment and its shareholders, John and Bernadette Gallagher.
UK considers Friends First takeout, eShopWorld valuation jumps and unmasking cyber attackers

Business Today: the best news, analysis and comment from ‘The Irish Times’ business desk

Austrian Lawyer, Max Schrems, (right) speaks to the media on leaving the Four Courts in Dublin on Tuesday.
Sky threatens to pull the plug on RTÉ

Business today: the best news, analysis and comment from ‘The Irish Times’ business desk

Once you reach 80 per cent of the threshold, you need to notify Revenue even though no tax is due until you exceed the threshold. Photograph: iStock
Child, relative or ‘stranger’? How inheritance tax works

The threshold depends on the relationship between benefactor and beneficiary

While €3,000 may not seem like a life-changing sum in itself, paid annually to each child and even grandchild where finances allow, it is a way of limiting exposure by them ultimately to inheritance tax. Photograph: Joe St Leger
Do you have to declare small gifts on tax return?

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

Paying CAT on US inheritance. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Unravelling the legal matrix on foreign inheritances

Q&A: Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance questions

The European Medicines Agency, responsible for monitoring the safety of medical treatments, must relocate from London after Brexit. Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images
European Medicines Agency fears losing staff after it leaves London

Report finds post-Brexit relocation carries ‘very real risks to public health’

A man works on CSeries aircraft wing in the Bombardier factory in Belfast. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters
Dark day for Bombardier’s 4,500 Irish workers

Business Today: the best news, analysis and comment from The Irish Times business desk

Strictly speaking, the Revenue view is that either (a) no interest was charged and the interest is therefore a gift to you, or (b) the interest that should have been charged was taxable income for them.
Dealing with an interest free loan from the Bank of Mum and Dad

Q&A: Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance queries

The 2017 Royal Hibernian Academy exhibition. Photograph: Aidan Oliver
Back in the black: Irish art sales booming again

This year’s RHA exhibition had sales of nearly €500,000, highest since before the crash

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe: scheme would allow SMEs to compete with larger companies for employees. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins
SMEs should be able to offer shares to employees, says CPA

Accountants’ body urges Minister of Finance to address issue of share-based pay in budget

The IPHA said it supports competitive pricing in “post-patent markets” to allow the health service to invest in new medicines. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
Doctors should ‘control biosimilar drug regimes’

Current rules allow adequate market access for biosimilar drugs, industry body argues

Calculating the financial fallout from the investment in what once was Telecom Éireann is a tricky business. Photograph: Aidan Crawley
Eir is back in news but how bad are my losses?

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

Mark Kennedy, managing partner at mazars, who is calling for more investment in the regions and less focus on debt repayment.
Call for transition plan for Ireland post Brexit

Mark Kennedy says EU could grant Ireland some wriggle room on debt repayment

Saving childcare allowance for college years

Q&A: Should I keep putting the child benefit in An Post Childcare Plus account?

Home purchase is one of the biggest investments in our lives. Photograph: Getty
Can I be economical with the truth of first-time buyer status?

Q&A: Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance queries

Amryt Pharma has reported a sharp rise in sales for the six months to the end of June as the company became a commercial pharmaceutical business. Photograph: Getty
Sales jump at rare disease drug group Amryt Pharma

Company starts phase III trial for ‘butterfly skin’ disease

Photograph: PA wire.
Rejected by Help-to-Buy as developer is not on the list

Q&A: Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance queries

Profile Capital acquires baby food group Little Dish in £17m deal

Deal has delivered second windfall for Irish businessman John Stapleton

Pharmaceuticals: Brexit could create “significant problems” as drug companies are forced to comply with two separate regulatory regimes. Photograph: Akos Stiller/Bloomberg
Brexit could ‘lead to shortage of medicines’ in Ireland

Pharmaceutical companies also warn of higher costs for HSE

Each unit fund investment is treated as an individual entity and the tax applicable is exit tax and not capital gains tax. Photograph: iStockPhoto
Offsetting unit fund gains and unit fund losses

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

Ironically, in Irish law, while marriage does generally invalidate any previously drafted will, divorce does not.
Will aunt’s will be affected by unrecognised foreign marriage

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

Unit funds are treated as investment undertakings and, assuming they were acquired since the start of 2001, are subject to exit tax. File photograph: iStock
Should I pay Capital Gains Tax or exit tax on my investment?

Q&A: Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance questions

The problem is that our banks – deeply scarred by the crash – are still very cautious in their lending. Photograph: Cyril Byrne
Freelance income shuts son out of mortgage market

Q&A: Dominic Coyle: Can we help him with cash gifts without tax implications?

Marriage revokes a will made before that point, but divorce does not. Photograph: iStock
Second marriage will effectively revoke previous wills

Q&A: Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance questions

When investing, it is important to take account not only of the gross return but also of any taxes that might apply that would reduce this return. Photograph: iStock
Is Revenue pulling a fast one with my investment fund?

Q&A: Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance questions

Ireland’s medicines bill has been “relatively stable” at around €1.7bn for the past five years. Photograph: PA Wire
Minister launches consultation on biosimilar medicines

Industry blames State policy for problem with cutting Ireland’s medicine bill

UK residents are able to make a gain of £11,300 (just over €12,500) – before CGT kicks in. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
CGT liability of UK resident on Irish share sale

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

Paddy Power Betfair announced the unexpected departure of chief executive Breon Corcoran this morning after unconfirmed weekend reports on a hunt for a successor. Photograph: PA Wire
Paddy Power shares hit as CEO Breon Corcoran steps down

Departure of executive seen as crucial element of successful merger of Paddy Power and Betfair sees shares slide up to 8.6%

The first rule of investment is: if you’ve put your money into something, you have a responsibility to keep an eye on it
Bank of Ireland sold my shares without asking me

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

Senior officials have raised the prospect of abolishing relief on family homes from capital gains tax when they are sold. Photograph: iStock
Prospect of capital gains tax on family home raised

Move is among tax reform options put forward by Department of Finance group

As you come nearer to retirement age – and you have less time to recover from nasty investment shocks – most advisers will move you away from equity-heavy funds to something with a lower risk profile
What can I do with my pension if moving job?

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

The Irish Financial Services Centre: 15 of the world’s top 20 banks now have operations in Ireland. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh
Brexit driving financial services players to Ireland, says IDA

More than 15 financial firms planning to come to Ireland or expand existing sites

Minister for Health Simon Harris: has asked that the issue of funding of high-tech drugs be resolved as a matter of urgency. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
HSE must fund new high-tech drugs, says Department of Health

Medicines approved for use, but funding row means patients cannot access drugs

The ECB is interested in how pension fund money is invested – in which countries, for how long and in which sectors of the economy.
ECB proposes new reporting rules for pension funds

Details of every stock, bond or other investment held by pension funds will have to be recorded

Must I be a carer to avoid inheritance tax on family home?

New rules protect people living in the family home when parents die

Can I claim back tax credits owing since 2008?

Taxes can be claimed back, but there is a limit to how far back you can go

A protest at the Dáil in March over delays in securing approval for Orkambi drug therapy for people with cystic fibrosis in Ireland. Following the campaign, the Minister approved funding of the drug therapy. Photograph: Alan Betson
Government puts new drug approvals back in HSE’s hands

Move seen as a way for Department of Health to distance itself from rows over drug funding

Your grandfather is essentially looking to advance you a loan for the purchase of the site. Photograph: iStock
Are there tax implications if I buy a housing site off my grandfather?

The main thing is to make sure the site he is selling you is properly valued

“The funds include a €120,000 loan from an Italian bank.” Photograph: iStock
Will Revenue tax my Italian savings if I use them to buy a home in Ireland?

I’m worried Revenue will come knocking on my door to verify the nature of the funds

Nine medications are currently stalled at the desk of the Minister for Health even though they have been approved for use by the Health Service Executive
Crunch meeting fails to agree funding for new medicines

Drug companies told there is no budget and no plans for supplementary health budget

UK Brexit secretary David Davis. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire
Brexit risk to patients in absence of medicines deal, industry warns

Industry urges UK and EU to grasp importance of ongoing co-operation on drugs

Tom Parlon, CIF director general, has urged the Government to retain the Help to Buy scheme for first-time buyers. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
Scrapping Help to Buy scheme would compound housing crisis, CIF warns

Construction group says residential building has been made more viable by incentive

Pension coverage, particularly in the private sector, is low
Q&A: What abolishing the mandatory retirement age would mean for you . . .

Longer lives and low pension cover mean retirement may not equal serenity

Spanish holiday home: If you earn no income from the property, there is no tax issue. And the issue of a capital gain will only arise when you eventually sell it on.
Spanish holiday home of little interest to Revenue

Q&A: Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance questions

Tenants paying rent to the Revenue

Q&A: Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance questions

Sources in the pharmaceutical sector say a further 14 novel drugs were coming through the approvals system but there appeared to be no scope in the medicines budget to pay for them
State needs new strategy to afford rising cost of medicines and new therapies

Industry group calls for a radical overhaul of medicines policy in Ireland

Minister for Health Simon Harris: he listed nine drugs in the Dáil that were awaiting decision and noted that extra Government funding had been found for two others – Orkambi/Kalydeco and Ibruntinib – since the introduction last year of a new agreement. Photograph: Gareth Chaney Collins
Cancer drugs backed by HSE ‘on hold’ over funding shortfall

Minister for Health may seek Cabinet support to seek €120m to break drugs logjam

If you earn income from your home, you will be liable to capital gains tax on at least part of its increase in value when you go to sell it. Photograph: Getty Images
Tax and the principal private residence

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

Rental income is subject to income tax, universal social charge and PRSI. Photograph: Getty Images/iStockphoto
Catching up with tax liability on rental income

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

The most generous contributors to HSE hospitals last year were Abbvie and Pfizer, two of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the State.
Drug firms give €3.7m in financial support to hospitals

Payments cover sponsorships, event fees, donations and grants to 33 HSE hospitals

Your son is entitled under current rules to receive up to €310,000 in gifts and/or inheritances from his parents over his lifetime before he has to pay any capital acquisitions tax
Providing a home for son on jobseeker’s allowance

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

The rules of the help-to-buy scheme are clearly defined in legislation. The basic intention is that it helps first-time buyers meet the deposit requirements for buying a home.
Why does Help-to-buy penalise us for using our land as a deposit?

Q&A: Law does not provide for cash sum for people who put up deposit ‘in kind’

There is no upper limit on how much anyone can receive in a given tax year under the exemption – only that no more than €3,000 comes from any one person.
Making the most of the small gift exemption

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

What tax do I pay to Revenue on a US bequest?
Who pays tax on inheritance from US-based relative?

Q&A: Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance questions

Since 2014, people who pay PAYE have had to pay PRSI on income – such as rental income, dividends, bank interest, etc – that previously had been outside the PAYE net.
Self-assessment and PAYE taxpayers

Q&A: Since 2014, PAYE taxpayers’ ‘unearned income’ has come under revised rules

Just how much tax your relative would have to pay depends on the precise nature of the relationship and the thresholds in place at the time the inheritance takes place. Photograph: Getty Images
Will inheritance affect disability allowance payment?

Q&A: Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance questions

It’s important to step back from instinct and take a cold look at the case for investing. Photograph: Cyril Byrne
Getting a fix on the price of AIB shares

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

There are specific rules in place to ensure that charities can benefit from tax relief in relation to donated cash, assets and property. Photograph: Getty Images/iStockphoto
What are the tax implications of giving to charity?

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

Announcing a new investment in University of Limerick spinout Altratech were (from left): Niall Olden, managing partner at Kernel Capital, Altratech chief executive Dr Tara Dalton, co-founders Dr Brian Farrell and Dr Tim Cummins, and Cyril McGuire, chief executive of Infinity Capital.
Viral test firm Altratech raises €5.2m

Kernel Capital and Infinity Capital invest in Clare company aiming to tackle infectious diseases

The current tax-free cap on inheritances/gifts from parents is €310,000. A reader plans to put this towards a house purchase.
Turning a parental loan into a gift

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

The new health centre, which involves the refurbishment of an existing office building, will be let to a number of GPs as well as providing space for the HSE and for a pharmacy.
MedicX acquires primary healthcare centre in Tallaght for €15.5m

British-listed firm’s Irish portfolio worth about €50m

AIB: The bank’s shares were trading at €9.20 last week. At that level, the bank is seen by investors to be worth €24.97 billion. Photograph: Cyril Byrne
AIB shares and irrational exuberance

Q&A: Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance questions

Medical device giant Medtronic has reported 13 per cent growth in profits for the full year to end-April. Photographer: Munshi Ahmed/Bloomberg
Profits jump 13% at medical device giant Medtronic

World’s biggest standalone medical device group increased sales in all business segments

How do we determine the rate of interest at which we charge our daughter? Photograph: Alan Betson
Would you charge your daughter interest on a loan?

Analysis: Dominic Coyle answers one family’s conundrum

I discovered in the last week that my shareholding has now increased despite my leaving Apple many years ago. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters
Making sense of my Apple shares

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

“I recently received a solicitor’s letter demanding a large sum of money be paid to my ex-partner as she wants the money she put in at the beginning to buy the house, such as deposit etc, back.” Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA
Ex-partner wants to force former girlfriend out of home

Q&A: Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance questions

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan disclosed the figure on Thursday in a written response to Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath
Over 2,300 taxpayers disclose offshore income before deadline

Disclosures amount to more than €70m so far with final figure expected next week

“I made a loss on a foreign property. Am I right that I can set the amount off against future gains?” Image: iStock
Lose some, win some: offsetting a capital loss against a capital gain

Q&A: Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance questions

After May 4th, Revenue will no longer give credit for voluntary disclosure of offshore assets. If individuals don’t act on the deadline, they could be open to prosecution.
PAYE worker offshore tax disclosure deadline looms

Deadline for submissions to Revenue Commissioners is 5.30pm, Thursday, May 4th

At the announcement of MSD’s €40 million investment in its Ballydine plant in Co Tipperary were (from left) site lead Ger Carmody with Liz O’Donnell, director of policy, government affairs and communications at MSD Ireland and Ger Brennan, managing director for human health at MSD Ireland.
MSD invests €40m in Tipperary plant

Spray drying facility is the latest element in a €75 million upgrade of the Tipperary plant

“Revenue strongly encourages anyone in receipt of dividends . . . to ensure that they have declared this income to Revenue and, if they have not done so, to make a disclosure of the foreign income to Revenue before 5.30pm on Thursday.”
PAYE workers face penalties in offshore tax clampdown

Data from US Internal Revenue Service shows undeclared share dividend income

A Revenue official says initial information from the US under new arrangements for the exchange of tax information shows a number of PAYE taxpayers have outstanding tax issues
PAYE workers may be unaware of Revenue tax liability

Tax clampdown with deadline of Thursday may affect some with overseas earnings

Under Irish tax law a person who is tax resident here but not domiciled in Ireland pays tax only on their earnings here and on any assets they buy and sell in this country
Indian rental income and the offshore assets clampdown

Q+A: Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance questions

After May 1st, Revenue has said that failure to disclose and pay tax due on foreign income and assets will be seen as an act of deliberate tax evasion
Revenue warns offshore assetholders not to avoid disclosure

Penalties of 10% for those who meet May 1st deadline, with charge rising to 100% later

The Revenue view is that holding offshore assets is a deliberate effort to evade tax.
If you have any assets overseas you need to read this

Revenue wants to know about your holiday homes, pensions and even UK bank accounts

Aside from the investment gain, there is no problem moving the money from the UAE fund to Ireland to use as a down payment on a property and no additional taxes will apply when you transfer the funds to Ireland. Photograph: Steve Crisp/Reuters
Making sense of tax liability on offshore fund in UAE

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

Enforced encashment of the Canadian retirement fund makes the position clearer in Irish tax terms.
Is my Canadian pension fund an offshore asset?

Q&A: Dominic Coyle answers your questions on personal finance

Cardinal Health is acquiring Medtronic’s patient care, deep vein thrombosis and nutritional insufficiency units. (Photograph: Munshi Ahmed/Bloomberg)
Cardinal Health to buy Medtronic units for $6.1bn

Tullamore medical supplies plant with 350 staff among those under new ownership

A son under the age of 18 cannot take the inheritance until he reaches that age. Until then, it would have to be held in a bare trust for his benefit.
Son still in school faces inheritance tax bill

Q&A: Dominic Coyle

Istanbul: Ireland has a double-taxation agreement with Turkey covering tax on income, among other things. Photograph: Chris Hondros/Getty Images
How do I give Revenue details of my Turkish apartment?

Q&A: Dominic Coyle looks at a complication arising from a holding of foreign property

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