Up to 24 vulture funds paid less than €20,000 in tax

The scale and scope of tax avoidance by vulture funds, reports the Sunday Business Post, is now becoming apparent with new data showing 24 Irish subsidiaries paid less than €20,000 of corporation tax in total despite controlling distressed property assets of almost €20 billion.

According to the Post, these 24 companies and their subsidiaries will be able to make a profit of between 33 per cent and 50 per cent of their initial investment.

The Post also reports that the IDA will have to disclose the details of payments it makes to international companies to set up in Ireland, potentially paving the way for other countries to lure jobs away from the State.

Under European Union transparency laws, the agency will have to provide the names of companies that receive grants , how much the individual payments total and what they are for.

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Blue Ocean breakup nets €22m for O’Brien

The

Sunday Times

reports that billionaire Denis O’Brien made more than €22 million from the break-up of Blue Ocean Associates, a UK fuel group he bought in a 2012 deal that involved a €64 million debt writedown from IBRC.

Figures show that Blue Ocean paid €28.2 million in dividends to an Isle of Man parent company last year after selling of all its assets. The parent company, Osmunda, is 67 per cent owned by Mr O’Brien.

Stockbroker bonuses cut

The

Times

also reports that bonuses at Dublin’s top stockbroking firms were slashed last year as corporate activity collapsed, the bond market softened and flotations dried up.

The paper says that sources told it that bonuses at Davy, the country’s largest broker, were cut by 60 per cent or more in some departments. It is understood that some cuts were also suffered at rival broker Goodbody.

High rents affecting recruitment

Four in 10 employers, according to the

Sunday Independent

, believe that a shortage of rental accommodation is damaging their ability to recruit staff, while almost a third expect to lose staff this year because of increasing rents.

The paper reports that 47 per cent of workers surveyed living outside Dublin said they would need a pay rise of 30 per cent to move to the capital.

ComReg calls for €5m fines

The

Independent

also reports that the telecoms watchdog ComReg wants to increase operator fines from €500,000 to €5 million to punish big operators who “deliberately” break the rules as, according to the regulator, the current system isn’t working.

“Service providers often profit significantly and unjustly from breaking the law.”