I propose to take Questions Nos. 93 to 95, inclusive, together.
I have received submissions from industry groups and professional bodies and my officials have met with a broad spectrum of stakeholders including the Irish Taxation Institute, Irish Hotels Federation, Construction Industry Federation, Irish Property Owners' Association, Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute and Society of Chartered Surveyors in relation to the proposed changes to Section 23 and property-based tax relief schemes. In addition my Department has received a significant number of representations from individuals affected by the measures relating to property-based reliefs, which were announced in the Budget. All representations will be responded to in the normal manner in due course.
I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the information provided in tax returns by claimants of section 23 type tax relief is not sufficiently detailed to provide the number of properties benefiting from that scheme. The only relevant information available relates to 2,429 claims of section 23 type relief on the 2008 income tax returns, the latest available. These claims relate to properties for which tax relief was not previously claimed and exclude any claims made in an earlier year where these were subsequently carried forward into 2008 as unabsorbed losses. The corresponding numbers of claims for the tax years 2003 to 2007, where 2003 is the earliest year for which this information is available, were 1,952, 3,578, 4,126, 4,132 and 2,919 respectively.
I am advised by Revenue that they are not yet in a position to provide data in respect of the number of claimants for 2009, as all tax returns for that year have not yet been processed. The measures relating to Section 23 relief outlined in the National Recovery Plan and announced in the Budget were the subject of legal advice. It is proposed that an impact assessment will be undertaken into the effects of the phased abolition of the property-based measures and the "guillotine" provision in advance of the 2014 deadline to identify any significantly anomalous effects of the proposed changes.