State’s bank holdings may take €400m hit in ‘tax offset’ row

The warning comes amid mounting political pressure from Fianna Fáil to reform the current system, which allows businesses avoid hefty tax bills until their historic losses are used up

Limiting banks’ ability to offset historic losses against tax could shave more than €400 million off the value of the state’s holdings in Irish lenders, the Department of Finance has warned.

The warning comes amid mounting political pressure from Fianna Fáil to reform the current system, which allows businesses avoid hefty tax bills until their historic losses are used up.

There are currently €214.6 billion in trading losses accumulated by Irish businesses, all ...