Vol. 554 No. 5
430 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Finance the number of organisations given a charity number by the Revenue Commissioners that were subject to a revenue audit for the last year for which figures are available; the organisations in this regard; the number that were checked to ensure their continuing entitlement to tax exemptions; and the organisations in this regard. [16728/02]
The Revenue Commissioners have informed me that bodies which are granted charitable tax exemption under the provisions of section 207, Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, are reviewed with a view to ensuring their continued compliance with the terms of the exemption. In the year 2001, a total of 251 exempted bodies were so reviewed and the Revenue Commissioners have advised me that the reviews disclosed a high standard of compliance. The Revenue Commissioners have also informed me that while a tax exempted charity is subject to a Revenue audit in the same manner as any other body, records are not kept in such a manner so as to distinguish charity audits from those conducted in other cases.
It is not the practice of the Revenue Commissioners to publish the names of charities which have been reviewed or audited by them. A list of bodies which have been granted charitable tax exemption under the Tax Acts is available on the Revenue website at: www.revenue.ie, publications, lists. There are currently 5,603 such bodies and the website is updated on a monthly basis.
