Vol. 513 No. 3
177 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 35 of 10 November 1999 the replies Revenue has received from the 38,996 companies who received requests for information regarding whether they were carrying on a trade in the State; the number of these companies which have been notified to the Registrar of Companies so as to initiate strike-off procedures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2285/00]
I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the companies concerned were written to in October 1999. The position as at 27 January 2000 is as follows. Of the 38,996 companies concerned, 5,512 have at this stage made the required return to the Revenue Commissioners. A further 9,389 returns have been sent back to the Revenue Commissioners indicating that the addressee is unknown; these companies are being checked to establish whether up-to-date addresses can be found. This leaves a total of 24,095 companies from which no response has been received. These cases are also being examined to check whether, in the event, they have registered for tax in the interim.
It is intended to complete this examination shortly and to forward a list of all those companies which have failed to provide the required information to the Registrar of Companies so as to enable him to initiate strike-off procedures.
The Deputy will be aware that the Companies (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 1999, contains the company law part of the package of measures to deal with IRNR companies. As part of this, prior to registration of new companies, the Registrar of Companies must be satisfied that the company will carry on an activity in the State.
I believe that the measures to deal with the IRNR problem, which I introduced in last year's Finance Act, and the changes to company law will prove to be effective in containing and eliminating this problem.
