Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 7 May 1991

Vol. 407 No. 9

Written Answers. - Self-Assessment Tax Liability.

Ruairí Quinn

Question:

97 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Finance if, following the introduction of self-assessment for tax payers, his attention has been drawn to the fact that a number of citizens have paid excess tax and are still awaiting payment of a rebate as promised by the Collector General; the number of tax payers affected; the total amount involved for the last two tax years; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Finance (Mr. A. Reynolds)

I have been advised by the Revenue Commissioners that there are no delays in repaying established overpayments.

The Deputy may have in mind notices of assessment which issue to taxpayers following the processing of their income tax returns. Those notices draw the taxpayer's attention to possible excess payments. It should be noted that these are not established overpayments and require further investigation by the Inspector of Taxes.

Excess payments have always been a feature of the tax system. The number has increased since the commencement of self assessment due to improved tax payment patterns. The Revenue Commissioners are constantly seeking ways to speed up the examination of these apparent excess payments. In the past year new administrative procedures have been introduced and the changeover to the current year basis of assessment means that only one year's return is now required to finalise the tax liability for years 1990/91 onwards. Statistics are not kept of the value of apparent excess payments awaiting examination. There are currently 12,000 such payments to be examined. Examination of most of these will be completed by the end of the month. The vast majority are for relatively small amounts and result from the processing of returns recently received. The number on hands is not significant bearing in mind that this is the peak period for the processing of returns. Some 90,000 returns have been received by inspectors of taxes since 1 January and the processing of these returns is now almost complete.