Vol. 482 No. 8
151 Mr. Aylward asked the Minister for Finance if he will instruct the Revenue Commissioners to ease the administrative burden on small to medium-sized suppliers to the construction industry by having arrangements made for copies of their up-to-date tax clearance certificate, rather than physical sight of the original document, to be acceptable as verification of entitlement to payment in full. [19313/97]
It is assumed that the reference to a tax clearance certificate is to a certificate of authorisation (C2) which is issued to subcontractors in the construction industry.
To receive payment without deduction of tax for performance of construction operations, the subcontractor must produce the C2 and complete a joint application with the principal contractor for a relevant payments card (C47). On receipt of the relevant payments card from the inspector of taxes, the principal contractor is allowed to make the payment without deduction of tax.
The requirement to produce the original C2 has been recognised from Revenue experience as an essential security feature of the system. It also protects the C2 holder from misuse of his C2 and resultant problems which might lead to its withdrawal. Where necessary, Revenue issues more than one C2 to a subcontractor so that the C2 can be produced by nominated employees to ease the burden on the subcontractor.
