——it clouded the waters to a certain extent. I have discussed the matter with it. I am not talking about people who neglect to apply for relief in respect of their medical expenses or prescription drugs and thereby pay an excessive amount in tax. While that is equally important, it is a separate issue. I am talking about those who at the start of the year receive a certificate of tax credits etc. from their local tax office which they hand to their employer who applies it to their pay and at the end of the year gives them a P60. Some 99.9% of taxpayers believe this is the amount they are due to pay and believe the two items tally. They file the documents or throw them in the bin and think no more about the matter.
A significant number of people will experience some change in circumstances during the year, for example, the taking of maternity or other leave for a period. For some reason they might not earn so much or might earn more. However, as they pay tax throughout the year, they end up paying too much. It is possible to say that while this might happen, people should check it out for themselves. However, at the end of each year the Revenue Commissioners check what every taxpayer pays. This is all processed through a computer. The P60 is reconciled with the earlier tax certificate and the actual amount paid in tax. The computer is programmed to highlight any underpayments by the taxpayer. If he or she has underpaid, he or she is immediately billed for the outstanding amount, as one would expect.
I did not expect to find, however, that the computer is deliberately programmed not to indicate overpayments. I did not expect to find that, even in the event of overpayments being discovered, the Revenue Commissioners did nothing about them. Therefore, some taxpayers are being defrauded by them. This does not apply to those subject to self-assessment; it only applies to PAYE workers. A significant amount of money is involved. I venture to suggest a figure of approximately €500 million. In reckoning that one in 20 taxpayers might be overpaying by less than €2 per week, that amount alone would run to considerably more than €100 million.
The computer needs to be programmed to establish overpayments. Disgraceful parts of previous Finance Acts have prevented the Revenue Commissioners, by law, from making certain repayments which I daresay most elected public representatives never noticed during their passage. The Revenue Commissioners have covered themselves and can claim to have done nothing illegal. While it may be immoral and unethical, it is not illegal.
I seek the support of the committee for a proposal. An easy solution would be to issue every taxpayer an annual tax reconciliation or balancing statement to be carried into the following tax year. This is all it would take and would resolve the problem forever more. We owe it to taxpayers to ensure this be done. When I mentioned this to the Revenue Commissioners, they were panicked into silence at the thought of having to send out such a reconciliation or balancing statement to every taxpayer but I reminded them that the man or woman running a corner shop in the smallest village had hundreds of documents to sign every year. We support them in having to do so to ensure they are compliant. The least we expect from those who act on our behalf is balance.
