Vol. 411 No. 5
83 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Finance the amount paid in VAT contributions in (a) 1988, (b) 1989, (c) 1990 by local authorities; if he proposes to change the legislation to enable local authorities to register for VAT; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The information requested concerning amounts of VAT paid by local authorities is not available as these bodies are not registered for VAT and therefore are not required to submit VAT returns. Like unregistered persons generally, they bear VAT on the cost of taxable goods and services purchased by them but it is not possible to ascertain the amount involved from the VAT returns of their suppliers.
Under EC VAT law, the State and its constituent parts, such as local authorities, are generally exempt from VAT. This means that, like other exempt entities, they cannot reclaim the VAT paid on purchases, because they do not charge VAT on any services they provide. I do not expect there to be any significant change in this regime in the foreseeable future.
I would point out, of course, that tax levels are taken into account in settling annual allocations for all State bodies including local authorities.
