asked the Minister for Finance the number of assessments which have been raised under the provisions of section 19 of the Finance Act, 1983; the amount of tax collected as a result of these assessments; and whether profits from illegal drug-dealing have been assessed.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Miscellaneous Income Assessments.
4.
Section 19 of the Finance Act, 1983, provides that profits or gains are to be charged to tax under Case IV of Schedule D and described in the assessment as "miscellaneous income" notwithstanding that the source from which they arose was not known to the inspector, or that they were not known to the inspector to have arisen wholly or partly from a lawful source, or that they were known to the inspector to have arisen from an unlawful source.
The value of the section as a Revenue measure is that it removes the possibility of a challenge to assessments to tax on the grounds that the source of the profits has not been identified by Revenue or that the activity from which the profits were derived was unlawful and therefore not a proper subject for taxation.
The section is an integral element of the charging provisions of the Tax Acts and assessments under the section are made as part of the general administration of the taxes and duties under the care and management of the Revenue Commissioners. For that reason statistics are not available in such a manner as would enable the details sought by the Deputy to be given and the information could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
As regards the final part of the question, it would be inappropriate for Revenue officials to seek to pass judgment as to whether profits or gains had been derived from any particular unlawful activity such as dealing in drugs. This is the primary reason any income assessed to tax by virtue of section 19 of the Finance Act, 1983, is described in the relevant assessment as miscellaneous income.
While accepting the Minister's bona fides in attempting to answer the question I must confess that it struck me that there was a lot of evasion in the reply. Is the Minister in a position to give any indication to the House as to the frequency of tax collected from illegal earnings, whether illegal drug earnings or any other source? The Minister's reply did not give us any indication. Is the Minister in a position to give us an indication of whether any amount of money was collected from illegal earnings for the purposes of taxation in the last four years?
As indicated in my reply statistics are not kept of the number of assessments made under this section throughout the tax districts. However, the larger and more important cases are dealt with by the investigation branch. Section 19 has been invoked on six occasions by that branch to assess income alleged to be of illegal origin. In two of those cases the tax is in the course of collection but the persons concerned are outside the jurisdiction. In another case the assessment was discharged by the Appeal Commissioner, another case is under appeal and investigations are on-going in the two remaining cases.
Will the Minister inform the House of the sums of money involved?
I do not have that information.
Will the Minister furnish that information to me in due course?
If I get the information I will furnish it to the Deputy.
Is there any co-operation between the Revenue Commissioners and the Garda authorities where reasonable suspicions are aroused as a result of investigations by the Revenue Commissioners? ]Will the Minister instruct the Revenue Commissioners to alert the Garda authorities in such instances?
I am sure that where such instances arise co-operation will be forthcoming but what we are discussing here is a taxation measure. The unlawful activity of people is a matter for the Garda in the first instance.