Marketing

Tax bills for 400,000; turning waste to gold at Beauparc; and Ikea disappoints its disciples


Figures released last night by the Revenue show that around 400,000 PAYE workers face a tax bill at the end of last year as a result of Covid wage supports. Today, those 400,000 will find out who they are and how much they owe when the preliminary year end statements drop into individual MyAccount boxes online.

Beauparc Utilities, the parent of both Panda and Greenstar, is on the block as minority shareholder Blackstone looks to exit. Joe Brennan writes that as many as 30 private equity suitors are looking at Eamon Waters’ waste business and many of them are considering an offer for the whole company in a deal that could be worth ¤1 billion.

Ikea has blotted its copybook with devoted Irish customers, leaving close to 12,000 of them in the lurch waiting for orders that might not be available for months. Brexit and Covid are to blame apparently but you get the sense the Swedish giants might have taken their eye off the ball in the run-up to Britain’s departure from the EU.

Shuttered pubs will have to wait a bit longer to see if they can force insurer FBD to cover the cost of the interruption to their business, writes Aodhan O’Faolain. The High Court has deferred a ruling on the case, due today, to allow time to consider the outcome of a similar case in the UK.

Moves to reform the global tax system will be “re-energised” under incoming US president Joe Biden, a clearly relieved Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said yesterday. Ireland could lose up to €2 billion in tax revenue under such changes but it could be worse if the US continued to snub the OECD which is trying to orchestra a global agreement.

Another Minister, Darragh O’Brien, told a housing conference yesterday that home ownership should be a cornerstone of Government policy. His comments sat somewhat awkwardly beside an assessment by Knight Frank of the market for €1 million-plus homes where returning expats apparently now account for a quarter of all purchases. Eoin Burke-Kennedy reports.

Covid is never far from the headlines these days. It appears that Microsoft, Oracle and the Mayo Clinic are among health and technology groups are working to create a digital vaccination passport to help people satisfy governments, airlines and other businesses that they have been vaccinated against Covid-19.

Caught between customers not having the correct paperwork and the Revenue applying new Brexit rules stringently, hauliers worry that trading could grind to a halt at ports. In Agenda, Barry O’Halloran and Simon Carswell take a look at Brexit’s teething problems at Dublin Port.

Everyone can have a chuckle at the fate of Donald Trump in the dying days of his presidency as he is silenced by Big Tech. But, writes Mark Paul in Caveat, Ireland has cause to be concerned about the massive and growing power of these companies.

RTÉ narrowed its annual loss to €7.2 million in 2019. That’s the good news but the broadcaster’s annual report shows that much remains to be done to get it on to a sound financial footing. Laura Slattery has the details.

Siptu’s new general secretary Joe Cunningham warns the State will face challenges in a number of areas in the years ahead, not just as a result of the impact of the pandemic, but also from Brexit, climate change and automation and artificial intelligence. He talks to Martin Wall about where the answers might come from.

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