These measures were announced on Tuesday 7 October 2025 by the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation.

Entrepreneurs are vital to creating jobs and stimulating economic activity across the country. This Government is committed to maintaining a tax system that supports them.

I am enhancing the existing Capital Gains Tax Revised Entrepreneur Relief by increasing the lifetime limit on gains to which the relief applies, from €1 million to €1.5 million for disposals made from the 1st of January 2026. This change will help ensure the Capital Gains Tax system supports entrepreneurs looking to grow their businesses and take on new challenges.

The Key Employee Engagement Programme is due to expire at the end of 2025. Following engagement with stakeholders in relation to this scheme, I am extending it until the end of 2028, subject to approval from the European Commission.

As a key driver of economic growth and high value employment, Research and Development supports are critical to Ireland’s continuing competitiveness in a challenging global environment.
Recognising this, and following a review undertaken by my Department this year, I am making several improvements to the regime, including:

• increasing the rate of the Credit from 30 per cent to 35 per cent
• increasing the first-year payment threshold from €75,000 to €87,500 to support smaller Research and Development project

I will also be publishing a Research and Development compass in the coming weeks, which will consider targeted changes to the Research and Development Tax Credit to better align with industry practices, for example in the areas of outsourcing and qualifying expenditure definitions. It will also set a pathway for development of innovation supports.