Corporation tax
The tax charged on a company's profit for the year, as the accounts report it.
Irish corporation tax is charged on profit as it is earned. Trading profit is taxed at the standard trading rate, while passive income — rent, interest, dividends from outside the trade — is taxed at a higher one, so two companies with the same profit can carry very different charges.
The charge in the accounts is not the cash paid: deferred tax, prior-year losses carried forward, and reliefs all sit between the two. Where a large group is in scope of the OECD minimum-tax rules, the effective rate is the one worth reading rather than any headline figure.
This line therefore says what the company reported, not what it paid, and comparing it across companies means allowing for both.
Where this figure comes from
Read from the profit and loss account in the filed financial statements.
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