asked the Minister for Finance if he will introduce a simple form of return in respect of persons paying tax under P.A.Y.E., as the present system involves work and effort on behalf of employers and employees.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - P.A.Y.E. Tax Returns.
6.
So far as employers are concerned a return of their employees' earnings for 1960-61 was necessary because the figures on the Tax Deduction Cards (or Stamp Books) related only to a half year, namely, the half year from the 6th October, 1960, to the 5th April, 1961. For 1961-62 and later years a full year's earnings will appear on the Tax Deduction Cards (or Stamp Books) and particulars of earnings of taxable employees will not have to be entered on the employer's return.
As regards employees a simplified form of return and claim for allowances for completion by persons with no income apart from earnings was prepared in connection with Pay As You Earn and has been in use for about a year.
Has the Minister received any representations from what I would describe as medium-sized employers in regard to the immense burden of work in which the preparation of P.A.Y.E. returns has involved them and will he consider providing some compensation for the very substantial volume of work in tax collection they have undertaken?
I must say that as far as the information goes and as far as any representations I have received from employers are concerned, where the employer complied with all the regulations, his task was not very heavy. In some cases, employers neglected to fill up the forms sent to them asking whether their employees were liable for income tax and then they got a very large number of forms which would not have been necessary at all if the original form had been filled up.
Is the Minister aware of the immense amount of work entailed in calculating the tax due, making the P.A.Y.E. deduction and preparing the amounts payable to the Revenue Commissioners? For the small sized firm, it involved an astonishing amount of work which necessitated the employment of a clerk to keep it right.