I propose to take Questions Nos. 180 and 188 together.
I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the collection and compliance procedures used in connection with the company are fully justified by reference to the possible risk to tax compliance. The company was incorporated on 1 July 1999. It is regarded as high risk from a tax viewpoint having regard to the tax history associated with the previous business entity.
Accordingly, revenue is monitoring the tax compliance of the company closely to ensure that its tax affairs are kept up to date. When no returns or tax payments were made by the company, action had to be initiated. This included the entering of estimates under section 22 of the VAT Act, 1972, and section 989 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997 and the use of the power of attachment under section 1002 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, when tax, which was properly due and payable, remained unpaid after the issue of normal demands. The company has now submitted all outstanding returns and the bulk of the outstanding payments and the notice of attachment is no longer in place.
I have been assured by the Revenue Commissioners that its approach to this company's tax affairs is fair and equitable and fully consistent with the objective of ensuring that tax obligations are fully complied with in a timely fashion, and that the approach is in line with published information on how cases of this kind would be handled.
