WHO IS ELIGIBLE?

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Eligible applicants

The Grow Digital Voucher is open to small enterprises (with between 1 and 50 paid employees) who:

  • have completed a Digital for Business Project within the previous two years.
  • are not currently clients of Enterprise Ireland or IDA.
  • are established and trading for at least 12 months, registered, and operate within the area of the Local Enterprise Office.
  • are solvent as demonstrated in the financial statements supplied.
  • Businesses must have either:

    A fixed premises that is commercially rateable. Businesses will be required to supply a commercial rates bill to verify this.

Or be:

An establishment which is approved within the Fáilte Ireland National Quality Assurance Framework. Businesses will be required to supply approval documentation to verify this.

  • Commercially rateable premises, where a business is rateable but is not currently rated by Valuation Office for a variety of reasons, can apply. Businesses will be required to submit documentation from a Local Authority demonstrating that they have a commercially rateable premises that is not currently rated.
  • An enterprise will be eligible to apply to the Scheme where it is a company, self-employed individual or partnership carrying on a trade or profession, the profits of which are chargeable to tax under Case I or Case II of Schedule D by virtue of section 18(2) of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997 (TCA). Pay As You Go (PAYG) customers are within the scope of the scheme.
  • Sporting bodies that carry on activities which would be chargeable to tax under Case I or II of Schedule D but for an exemption set out in section 235 TCA are eligible to apply to the scheme.
  • Charities that carry on activities that would be chargeable to tax as trading income, but for an available tax exemption under section 208 TCA, are also included within the scope of the scheme.
  • Businesses must have current tax clearance from Revenue. Businesses must supply a Tax Reference Number and a Tax Clearance Access Number to allow for verification of their Tax Clearance status on Revenue’s online portal.

Ineligible Applicants

  • Are operating solely from a domestic/home based office.
  • Companies with charitable status, commercial semi-state companies, “not for profit” organisations – which do not meet the above criteria, trade associations, company representation bodies such as Chambers of Commerce, Sporting Bodies – which do not meet the above criteria and other non-commercial bodies or associations are not eligible to avail of the Small Capital Grants.
  • Are operating in the coal or steel sector.
  • Are active in the primary agricultural, fishery or aquaculture sectors.
  • Are involved in activities that Local Enterprise Offices considers as ineligible or as involving an unacceptable reputational risk. Ineligible activities include activities relating to:
      1. The gambling sector, including ‘gaming’ (as defined in the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956).
      2. Adult entertainment.
      3. Tobacco and tobacco related products.
      4. Cannabis-based products which are not authorised as medicines.

Note: This is not an exhaustive list and Enterprise Ireland has a dynamic policy position on several activities. Any queries in relation to the eligibility of an activity will be directed to the Enterprise Ireland Policy department who will assess the case.

Eligible Expenditure

1. Software subscription fees

  • for eligible business software that is NEW to the business for a maximum of one year subscription (the business must incur the annual subscription cost before the grant can be paid).
  • that are “off the shelf”.
  • expanding on the number of existing software licenses for software systems already in use does not qualify.

Eligible software examples include:

  • E-commerce software
  • Software for customer relationship management
  • Online booking, payments or appointments
  • Job tracking including field service management software.
  • Order management or stock control software
  • Industry specific cloud SaaS software (where new to the company)
  • Field management or workflow management software
  • Electronic invoicing or electronic signature software
  • Standard office software (for email, documents, spreadsheets, etc.) where not already in use by the company
  • Cyber security software (if new to the company)
  • Cloud based accounting or payroll software (if moving to the cloud for these systems)
  • 3D modelling software (including building information modelling)
  • Analytics software (including AI systems)

2. Training and/or IT Configuration

  • Where the business requires expert assistance in the set up; and/or integration of new software systems or ICT processes or where the business management or team require training to engage with/maintain the new system to allow for ease of use and to garner most benefit for the business. (Training and Configuration amount combined can be no more than 50% of the software subscription fees).

Ineligible Expenditure

  • Custom or bespoke software is not eligible for grant support.
  • Systems for regulatory compliance do not qualify.