A new Revenue report points to decidedly modest job gains from special income tax concessions for international executives assigned to work in the State.

In fact the number of upfront job gains reported by employers in the first years of the scheme was lower than the number of participants. Still, employers reported a bigger number of employees retained as a result of the scheme.

This must be measured against the scheme’s objective: to reduce the costs of assigning skilled individuals from abroad to work in Irish operations “thereby facilitating the creation of jobs and the development and expansion of businesses in Ireland”.

Participation in the special assignee relief programme (SARP) was slow to take off when introduced in 2012. In 2014 the scheme was extended and its benefits enhanced, a move which came amid rising participation from a low base.

The SARP provided relief from income tax on 30 per cent of salary between €75,000 and €500,000 for the tax years 2012, 2013 and 2014. The 2014 Finance Act extended the scheme to executives assigned to work in Ireland in 2015, 2016 or 2017, and the €500,000 income threshold was scrapped.

Revenue’s report, published by the Department of Finance, shows 11 participants in 2012. Participation in 2013 rose to 121, and in 2014 it rose to 302. The increase in employee numbers as a result of the relief “as reported by employers” was six in 2012, 49 in 2013 and 126 in 2014.

Again, “as reported by employers”, the number of employees retained as a result of the relief was six in 2012, 215 in 2013 and 708 in 2014. Quite how that worked in practice is not specified in the Revenue analysis.

The tax cost of the SARP in 2012 was €100,000, and it rose in 2013 to €1.9 million and to €5.9 million in 2014. The report said 10 of the beneficiaries in 2013 and 43 beneficiaries in 2014 were paid more than €375,000. Take-up was biggest in the IT sector in 2013 and biggest in the financial services sector in 2014.