asked the Minister for Finance if he will investigate as a matter of urgency the repeated demands for alleged arrears of income tax to persons (details supplied) in Dublin 3, which demands were previously discovered some two years ago to be spurious; if he will investigate the way in which these persons, two elderly pensioners, are receiving repeated demands for a very substantial payment of tax which they do not owe; the reason it has not been fully investigated by the appropriate officials and an explanation given to the persons; and if he will now thoroughly investigate the matter and render appropriate apologies to the persons and insist that there is an overhaul of whatever system is in place for raising this kind of demand without any basis or evidence to support it.
Written Answers. - Alleged Arrears of Income Tax.
The Revenue Commissioners have advised me that the couple in question are assessable to tax under section 194 of the Income Tax Act, 1967, on the basis of their aggregated income.
Assessments which had been issued for 1985-86 and 1986-87 were appealed by the taxpayer who specified that tax was not payable for either year. The assessments were cancelled and the Inspector of Taxes has no record of demands for income tax issuing for the years in question. The Inspector of Taxes, in fact, has no record of demands for income tax having been issued for any year prior to 1987-88.
Regrettably due to an error on the part of the inspector, demands for income tax for 1987-88 were incorrectly issued to the taxpayer. The matter has now been rectified and it is unlikely that further demands will be issued to the taxpayer in the foreseeable future. The inspector will communicate directly with the taxpayer in the matter.