Local Enterprise Office Mayo offers a wide range of financial and other types of assistance to help you start up your new business or grow an existing business. We welcome enquiries from businesses for financial support but remind clients that the LEO must operate within national guidelines that outline that financial support is targeted at manufacturing businesses or those that are engaged in Internationally Traded Services (i.e. services that are being exported).
In general Local Enterprise Office Mayo cannot offer grant aid to:
- Retail businesses
- Personal & professional services businesses
- Construction sector
- Primary agriculture businesses
- Other local services that duplicate existing local businesses.
It is important to note that although the LEO cannot offer grant aid to businesses in these sectors, we can, however, provide assistance with mentoring, training, website development, and trade show attendance. Please talk to us and we’ll do what we can to help.
Eligibility Criteria
Local Enterprise Office Mayo can assist in the establishment, and/or development, of new and existing enterprises from individuals/sole traders and companies, subject to the following eligibility criteria:
- The enterprise must be in manufacturing or Internationally Traded Services Sectors;
- The enterprise must be in the commercial sphere;
- The enterprise must demonstrate a market for the product/service;
- The enterprise must have a capacity for growth and new job creation;
- The enterprise must not employ more than 10 people.
Feasibility
Feasibility grants are designed to assist the promoter with researching market demand for a product or service and examining its sustainability. It includes assistance with innovation including specific consultancy requirements, hiring of expertise from third-level colleges, design, patent costs, and prototype development.
The maximum Feasibility / Innovation Grant payable by Mayo Local Enterprise Office is 60% of the investment or €15,000 whichever is the lesser.
Expenditure may be considered under the following headings:
- Innovation Costs
- Own Labour Research
- Consultancy Costs
- Miscellaneous Costs.
For further information please contact us.
Priming Grants
Priming Grants are available to businesses within the first 18 months of start-up; and
Priming Grants may be available for businesses that meet the following criteria:
- Are a manufacturing or internationally traded services business;
- Are located in County Mayo;
- Employ no more than 10 employees;
- Is a domestically traded Service business with the potential to trade internationally.
The maximum Priming Grant payable shall be 50% of the investment or €150,000 whichever is the lesser. Grants over €80,000 and up to €150,000 shall be the exception and shall only apply in the case of projects that clearly demonstrate a potential to graduate to Enterprise Ireland and/or to export internationally.
In all other cases, the maximum grant shall be 50% of the investment or €80,000 whichever is the lesser. A percentage of any grant assistance will be in refundable form at the discretion of Mayo Local Enterprise Office.
Subject to the 50% limit, and under certain conditions, a maximum grant of €15,000 per full-time job created shall apply in respect of any employment support granted.
Business Expansion Grants
Business Expansion Grants are available to businesses that have been in existence for longer than 18 months.
Business Expansion Grants may be available for businesses that meet the following criteria:
- Are a manufacturing or internationally traded services business;
- Are located in County Mayo;
- Employ no more than 10 employees;
- Is a domestically traded Service business with the potential to trade internationally.
The maximum Business Expansion Grant payable shall be 50% of the investment or €150,000 whichever is the lesser. Grants over €80,000 and up to €150,000 shall be the exception and shall only apply in the case of projects that clearly demonstrate a potential to graduate to Enterprise Ireland and/or to export internationally.
In all other cases, the maximum grant shall be 50% of the investment or €80,000 whichever is the lesser. A percentage of any grant assistance will be in refundable form at the discretion of Mayo Local Enterprise Office.
Subject to the 50% limit, and under certain conditions, a maximum grant of €15,000 per full-time job created shall apply in respect of any employment support granted.
Micro Finance Ireland
The objective of Microfinance Ireland is to provide additional lending to start-up, newly established, or growing microenterprises that have commercially viable proposals but do not meet conventional risk criteria applied by commercial banks.
The Microenterprise Loan Fund forms part of a suite of financial schemes provided through the Department of Jobs, Enterprise, and Innovation to assist businesses in a range of sizes across all industry sectors.
Loans of up to €25,000 are available for commercially viable proposals that do not meet the conventional risk criteria applied by commercial banks.
Further information on Micro Finance Ireland can be found here.
Microfinance Ireland is a subsidiary company of the Social Finance Foundation which was founded in 2007 by the Minister for Finance and has substantial experience in this area. Microfinance Ireland benefits from a guarantee issued under the European Progress Microfinance Facility established by the European Union. This fund is designed to stimulate lending to sustainable microenterprises.
Applications to the MicroFinance fund can be submitted to Mayo LEO office and will be locally evaluated before a recommendation is issued to Micro Finance Ireland.
Revenue Incentives
Revenue & Other Incentives for Irish Business
- Employment Investment Incentive (EII)
EII is a tax relief that aims to encourage individuals to provide equity-based finance to trading companies.
You can claim tax relief on your investment when certain conditions are met. For shares issued up to and including 8 October 2019, the relief is split into two tranches:
- Thirty fortieths (30/40) in the year of investment
- Ten fortieths (10/40) in the fourth year after the initial investment.
For shares issued after 8 October 2019, the relief is available in full in the year of the investment.
Companies will issue shares to you for the amount you invest. You must hold those shares for at least four years.
EII is available to qualifying individuals who make qualifying investments. You will qualify if you, or your family, do not own any capital in the company.
The maximum investment on which you can claim relief in a year is:
- €150,000 in respect of the years up to and including 2019
- €500,000 in respect of the years after 2019, subject to those shares being held for a minimum period of 7 years
- or €250,000 in respect of the years after 2019 where those shares are held for a minimum period of 4 years only.
Click here for further detailed information on the Employment and Investment Incentive Employment Investment Incentive (EII) (revenue.ie)
Money spent by a company on research and development activities may qualify for the R&D Tax Credit. The credit is calculated at 25% of qualifying expenditure and is used to reduce a company’s Corporation Tax (CT). Where a company has offset current and previous years’ CT liabilities, it may apply for credit payable in installments.
A company may qualify for the R&D Tax Credit if:
- it is within the charge of CT in Ireland
- it carries out qualifying R&D activities in Ireland or the European Economic Area (EEA)
- the expenditure does not qualify for a tax deduction in another country.
What are qualifying R&D activities?
To qualify for the R&D Tax Credit, a company’s research and development activities must:
- Involve systemic, investigative, or experimental activities
- Be in the field of science or technology
involve one or more of these categories of R&D:
- Basic research
- Applied research
- Experimental development
- Seek to make scientific or technological advancement
- Involve the resolution of scientific or technological uncertainty.
Click here for further detailed information on the R&D Tax Credit Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit (revenue.ie)
Starting in Business
- Startup Refunds for Entrepreneurs (SURE)
If you are interested in starting your own company, you may be entitled to an income tax refund of up to 41% of the capital that you invest under SURE. Depending on the size of your investment you may be entitled to a refund of income tax paid over the six years prior to the year in which you invest. Click here for further information about the Startup Refunds for Entrepreneurs initiative
- Back to Work Enterprise Allowance
If you have been signing on for over 12 months and you would like to become self-employed, the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (BTWEA) allows you to keep your social welfare payment for 2 years (Year 1: 100%, Year 2:75%). To qualify, you must be setting up a business that a Local Integrated Development Company or a Facilitator has approved in writing in advance. Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (www.gov.ie)
- Short-Term Enterprise Allowance
The Short-Term Enterprise Allowance (STEA) supports you if you have lost your job and want to start your own business.
The Short-Term Enterprise Allowance is paid instead of your Jobseeker’s Benefit for a maximum of 9 months. It ends when your entitlement to Jobseeker's Benefit ends (that is, at either 9 or 6 months).
Short-Term Enterprise Allowance (STEA) (www.gov.ie)
Recruiting
JobsPlus is an incentive from the Department of Social Protection to encourage and reward employers who offer employment opportunities to the long-term unemployed. Grants of €7,500 and €10,000 are available. Click here for further detailed information on JobsPlus
