Vol. 498 No. 6
8 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Finance the amount of income tax refunded under section 823 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, for each of the tax years ending April 1995 to 1997; the number of people that availed of the refund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28047/98]
Section 823 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, formerly section 154 of the Finance Act, 1994, provides relief by way of a deduction against earnings in the case of certain Irish resident employees who work overseas during a tax year. The relief is known as the foreign earnings deduction, and was introduced with effect from the tax year 1994-95.
I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that statistics are not recorded in such a manner as would enable the information requested by the Deputy on the extent of the use of this relief to be provided. Such information could not be obtained without undertaking inquiries which could be carried out only at a disproportionate cost. If the Deputy has any particular issue or concern regarding the operation of the relief and lets me know of this, I would be happy to have my Department contact him.
I thank the Minister for his reply. Would he not agree it is most unusual that in regard to a section in the Finance Act, of which not too many people avail, it is not possible to get the figures? Is there no budgetary projection in this year's budget to take account of moneys that might be refunded under this section?
It would be possible, but only at disproportionate cost. If I explain how this relief operates, the Deputy will understand why. The computer records show gross incomes for classes of taxpayers. This relief depends on the number of days a person works abroad. A proportion is deducted from the person's income and he or she is taxed on the balance. For example, if a person's income is £30,000 and he or she spends two-thirds of the year abroad and qualifies for relief, only £10,000 of the income would be taxed. Gross income, therefore, would be shown as £10,000. At the end of the year the person would apply for relief and the Inspector of Taxes would recompute the tax liability on a gross income of £30,000, less foreign earnings relief of £20,000, giving a net amount of £10,000. The person is taxed on that basis and gets a refund of tax. The Revenue Commissioners would have to rejig their accounts at a disproportionate cost to show this. That is the reason the figures are not available. That is why it is not done. When computerisation improves it will be possible to get further information. It would not be cost effective to calculate the figures required by the Deputy.
Would it be possible to get the number of personnel, as opposed to income?
That information is not available either. If we had those figures, the others would also be available. I am sure that in time it will be possible for the Revenue Commissioners to provide that information.
