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Salary Statistics.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 October 2005

Thursday, 27 October 2005

Questions (149, 150, 151, 152, 153)

Paul McGrath

Question:

144 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the ten most popular occupations or professions in respect of PAYE workers earning more that €200,000 per annum. [31235/05]

View answer

Paul McGrath

Question:

145 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the ten most popular occupations or professions in respect of self-employed persons earning more than €200,000 per annum. [31236/05]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 144 and 145 together.

I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the latest relevant sector-based information available on employees taxed under the PAYE system and self-employed persons taxed under the self-assessment system is derived from income tax returns filed for the income tax year 2002. It is not possible at present to provide the information sought for a more recent year if the data are to be reasonably accurate.

The sector identifier used on the tax records is based on the four-digit NACE code (Rev. 1), which is an internationally recognised economic activity code system. On this basis, the information requested is as follows:

Gross income exceeding €200,000 by NACE economic activity code 2002.

Employees.

Sector (economic activity code)

Number of income earners with gross income exceeding €200,000

Cases where no sector identified (9991)

981

Letting of own property (70.20)

419

Medical practice activities (85.12)

287

Monetary intermediation (65.12)

213

General construction of buildings and civil engineering works (45.21)

207

Business and management consultancy activities (74.14)

131

Architectural and engineering activities and related technical consultancy (74.20)

128

Other business activities n.e.c. (74.87)

114

Hospital activities (85.11)

109

Activities auxiliary to insurance and pension funding (67.20)

105

Self-Employed.

Sector (economic activity code)

Number of income earners with gross income exceeding €200,000

Legal activities (74.11)

1,248

Medical practice activities (85.12)

929

Cases where no sector identified (9991)

636

Accounting, book-keeping and auditing activities; tax consultancy (74.12)

420

Letting of own property (70.20)

345

Dental practice activities (85.13)

186

Architectural and engineering activities and related technical consultancy (74.20)

154

Farming (190)

146

Hospital activities (85.11)

134

Dispensing chemists (52.31)

95

Employees and self-employed are classified for this purpose according to their main source of income.

The NACE codes are not essential for the assessment and collection of taxes and duties and the correct allocation and maintenance of these codes is subject to the limit of available resources. The economic sector breakdown on Revenue records is based on details recorded using information supplied by income earners or their employers at some point in the past.

Some of that information may have been incorrect or misinterpreted in the first instance, or may not have been subsequently updated as necessary. For these reasons, some of the economic sector codes on tax records are likely to be out of date or inaccurate and the reliability of the figures for the sectors currently provided will be limited to that extent.

A married couple who has elected or who has been deemed to have elected for joint assessment is counted as one tax unit and their incomes are aggregated in the statistics.

Paul McGrath

Question:

146 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the number of PAYE workers and self employed workers who have incomes of €200,000, €200,000-€400,000, €400,000-€600,000, €600,000-€1,000,000 or over €1 million who paid tax at the 20% rate of tax and paid no income tax at all. [31237/05]

View answer

I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the most recent basic data on incomes available from which information of the type requested by the Deputy could be derived are in respect of the income tax year 2002 and are set out the following tables. For completeness, the numbers of income earners liable for tax at the top rate of 42% are also included.

A married couple who has elected or has been deemed to have elected for joint assessment is counted as one tax unit. Married couples and individuals with income chargeable to tax under both schedules E and D have been classified in the attached tables by reference to the schedule under which the larger amount of income is taxable.

The designation of a tax rate to an income earner in the tables is based on identifying the top tax rate applying to the taxable income of each earner. To arrive at the figure for taxable income, the gross income is reduced by various relevant deductions and allowances such as capital allowances, losses, allowable expenses and retirement annuities. In some cases, these will reduce the taxable income to nil. The information on incomes is based on income returns on Revenue records at the time the data were compiled for analytical purposes, representing about % of all returns expected.

INCOME TAX 2002.

Numbers of mainly PAYE income earners with incomes exceeding €200,000.

Range of Gross Income *

No net liability for income tax

Liable for tax at the standard rate (20%) or marginal relief

Liable for tax at the higher rate (42%)

Overall Total

Single*

Married

Total

Single*

Married

Total

Single*

Married

Total

200,000

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

1

1

200,000-400,000

0

9

9

1

11

12

482

3,463

3,945

3,966

400,000-600,000

0

0

0

0

2

2

70

511

581

583

600,000-1,000,000

0

1

1

0

1

1

32

268

300

302

Over 1,000,000

0

2

2

0

1

1

36

176

212

215

0

12

12

1

15

16

620

4,419

5,039

5,067

"Single" includes widowed persons.

*Gross income excludes income which is exempt from tax.

2002 — PAYE over €200,000.

INCOME TAX 2002.

Numbers of mainly self-employed income earners with incomes exceeding €200,000.

Range of Gross Income *

No net liability for income tax

Liable for tax at the standard rate (20%) or marginal relief

Liable for tax at the higher rate (42%)

Overall Total

Single*

Married

Total

Single*

Married

Total

Single*

Married

Total

200,000

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

200,000-400,000

9

35

44

7

60

67

589

3,098

3,687

3,798

400,000-600,000

2

10

12

1

11

12

141

819

960

984

600,000-1,000,000

0

9

9

1

9

10

68

404

472

491

Over 1,000,000

1

2

3

1

4

5

31

183

214

222

12

56

68

10

84

94

829

4,504

5,333

5,495

"Single" includes widowed persons.

* Gross income excludes income which is exempt from tax.

2002 — SchD over €200,000.

INCOME TAX 2002.

Numbers of all income earners with incomes exceeding €200,000.

Range of Gross Income *

No net liability for income tax

Liable for tax at the standard rate (20%) or marginal relief

Liable for tax at the higher rate (42%)

Overall Total

Single*

Married

Total

Single*

Married

Total

Single*

Married

Total

200,000

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

1

1

200,000-400,000

9

44

53

8

71

79

1,071

6,561

7,632

7,764

400,000-600,000

2

10

12

1

13

14

211

1,330

1,541

1,567

600,000-1,000,000

0

10

10

1

10

11

100

672

772

793

Over 1,000,000

1

4

5

1

5

6

67

359

426

437

12

68

80

11

99

110

1,449

8,923

10,372

10,562

"Single" includes widowed persons.

*Gross income excludes income which is exempt from tax.

2002 — All over €200,000.

Paul McGrath

Question:

147 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the number of PAYE income earners in a number of income thresholds (details supplied) or nearest equivalent in each of the past five years. [31238/05]

View answer

Paul McGrath

Question:

148 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the number of self-employed workers in a number of income thresholds or nearest equivalent in each of the past five years. [31239/05]

View answer

I propose to take Questions Nos. 147 and 148 together.

I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the information requested by the Deputy is provided in the following tables. For completeness the numbers of income earners with gross income in excess of €1 million have also been included. Self-employed income earners have been distributed over the same income ranges as PAYE earners.

For the tax years 2001 and 2002, the numbers of income earners at all income levels in the tables are best estimates based on data from comple ted end-of-year returns but adjusted to take account of returns which had not been received when the data were compiled. For later years, the numbers of earners in the various ranges of income are based on the adjusted data for 2002 projected forward in accordance with macro-economic data relating to actual and expected growth in wages and employment.

Distribution of PAYE income earners on tax records, including tax exempt individuals, by ranges of income.

Range of Gross Income

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

€1-€10,000

489,700

397,200

385,800

375,000

363,200

€10,001-€20,000

493,700

394,400

385,000

372,300

357,700

€20,001-€30,000

280,900

332,800

343,700

351,500

352,200

€30,001-€40,000

147,700

206,500

222,200

241,500

253,100

€40,001-€50,000

73,900

128,200

138,600

153,600

165,300

€50,001-€70,000

59,400

125,600

138,300

158,500

177,800

€70,001-€90,000

18,200

48,500

53,400

62,500

72,900

€90,001-€100,000

4,300

12,600

13,900

16,500

19,400

€100,001-€150,000

8,700

21,600

24,400

29,800

36,400

€150,001-€200,000

2,600

5,300

5,800

6,800

8,100

€200,001-€500,000

2,500

4,600

5,000

5,800

6,700

€500,000-€1,000,000

300

500

600

600

700

Over €1,000,000

100

200

200

300

300

Note: Figures in the table are rounded to the nearest hundred and any apparent discrepancies in totals are due to rounding of constituent figures.

Distribution of self-employed income earners on tax records, including tax exempt individuals, by ranges of income.

Range of Gross Income

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

€1-€10,000

56,700

38,900

37,400

35,900

33,500

€10,001-€20,000

58,900

47,500

46,000

44,400

41,900

€20,001-€30,000

34,100

36,400

36,800

37,100

36,700

€30,001-€40,000

19,600

24,100

25,000

25,700

26,900

€40,001-€50,000

11,000

15,900

16,700

17,400

18,500

€50,001-€70,000

11,100

17,500

19,000

20,200

22,100

€70,001-€90,000

5,100

8,400

9,300

10,000

11,300

€90,001-€100,000

1,600

2,600

2,900

3,100

3,600

€100,001-€150,000

4,500

6,700

7,300

8,000

9,100

€150,001-€200,000

2,000

3,100

3,100

3,300

3,700

€200,001-€500,000

2,900

4,800

5,100

5,400

6,100

€500,000-€1,000,000

500

900

1,000

1,100

1,300

Over €1,000,000

100

200

300

300

300

Notes: Figures in the table are rounded to the nearest hundred and any apparent discrepancies in totals are due to rounding of constituent figures.

It should be noted that the income ranges shown in the above tables relate to gross income. Gross income is income prior to deductions for capital allowances, interest paid, losses, allowable expenses, retirement annuities, etc. It is income after the deduction of superannuation contributions by employees but not by the self-employed, and it includes income of individuals whose total income falls below the exemption limits. It does not include certain other income which is not income for tax purposes or is exempt from tax, such as profits or gains from stallion fees, profits from commercial forestry and certain income from patent royalties, certain investment income arising from personal injuries, child benefit, maternity benefit and unemployment assistance paid by the Department of Social and Family Affairs, certain earnings of writers, composers and artists, bonuses or interest paid under instalment savings schemes operated by An Post, interest on certain Government securities, certain foreign pensions which are exempt from tax in the foreign paying country, portions of certain lump sums received by employees on cessation of their employment, statutory redundancy payments and certain military pensions.

Gross income does not include or does not fully include other income sources such as interest income that does not need to be declared or is not recorded, but from which tax has been deducted; unemployment benefit and disability benefit — non-recording of non-taxable amounts and of amounts taxed by restriction of repayments or indirectly through employers in the PAYE system; and the incomes of certain self-employed persons, including some farmers, as well as some individuals in receipt of pensions, who are not processed annually on tax records because their incomes are below the income tax thresholds.

A married couple who has elected or has deemed to have elected for joint assessment is counted as one tax unit. The figures for the years 2002, 2003 and 2004 have been revised from those quoted in the reply to the Deputy's Questions Nos. 164 to 167 of 3 November 2004, to take account of more up-to-date base information and revised macro-economic projections of income levels and number at work which have become available. The figures for 2003 onwards are projected estimates and may be subject to further revision.

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