Wednesday, 9 Oct 2013

Written Answers Nos. 64 to 72

Tax Yield

Questions (64)

Pearse Doherty

Question:

64. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if he will provide, on an annual basis, corporation tax receipts each year since 2006. [42655/13]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

The Deputy may wish to know that this information as well as outturn and profile data on the other main taxation categories are published in the Statistics Databank on the Department of Finance website and is available at; http://databank.finance.gov.ie/

For convenience, the information required follows.

-	Corporation tax receipts €000
2006	6,683,247
2007	6,390,625
2008	5,065,894
2009	3,900,306
2010	3,923,637
2011	3,520,193
2012	4,215,671

Corporation Tax Data

Questions (65)

Pearse Doherty

Question:

65. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the number of companies making corporation tax returns in excess of €1 million, €5 million, €10 million and so on, in increments of €5 million, for each of the years since 2006. [42656/13]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

It is assumed the Deputy is referring to the number of companies that filed corporation tax returns for the years outlined who had Net Trading Income (before deductions and charges) in excess of the amounts specified in the question. I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the relevant figures are as contained in the Table CTS 1 of the Statistical Reports published annually by the Commissioners and can be found on the Revenue website at www.revenue.ie.

The latest year for which information is available from that source is for 2010 which is contained in the 2011 report.

The corresponding information for 2011 is available and will be included in the 2012 report on the website as soon as possible. Data for the year 2012 is not yet available.

Because of the Revenue Commissioners’ obligation to observe confidentiality in relation to the taxation affairs of individual taxpayers and small groups of taxpayers, a breakdown by the bands requested by the Deputy is not provided in relation to incomes exceeding €10 million due to the relatively small numbers of companies with incomes in excess of that level.

The following table shows the number of companies that filed corporation tax returns with Net Trading Income (before deductions and charges) in excess of €1million, €5 million and €10 million for the years 2006 – 2011:

Number of companies with Net Trading Income (before deductions and charges)

Year	Number of Companies With > €1m	Number of Companies With > €5m	Number of Companies With > €10m
2006	3,089	968	571
2007	3,110	1,010	586
2008	2,241	741	441
2009	2,090	722	457
2010	1,965	710	463
2011	1,982	696	459

Tax Yield

Questions (66, 67)

Pearse Doherty

Question:

66. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the income tax receipts, excluding DIRT, for each month since 2007. [42657/13]

Pearse Doherty

Question:

67. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the levels of receipts for DIRT for each month since 2007. [42658/13]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

I propose to take Questions Nos. 66 and 67 together.

The Deputy may wish to know that aggregate outturn and profile data on income tax and the other main taxation categories is published in the Statistics Databank on the Department of Finance website and is available at http://databank.finance.gov.ie/

Monthly data on Deposit Interest Retention Tax receipts since 2007 is as follows.

Monthly DIRT Receipts €m

-	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
January	115.2	172.8	152.4	121.1	111.3	140.7	139.6
February	1.1	3.2	16.3	1.5	3.4	0.5	1.3
March	2.2	0.0	0.1	0.2	0.3	0.1	0.1
April	0.2	-0.3	0.0	0.0	117.4	160.9	147.1
May	0.4	-0.1	0.0	0.0	6.1	0.1	0.1
June	-0.2	-0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
July	-0.4	-0.1	0.0	0.0	114.7	143.4	111.4
August	-0.1	-0.1	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.1	0.0
September	0.0	-0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
October	351.3	446.9	437.2	321.7	116.7	133.9	-
November	0.2	30.4	6.8	0.2	2.7	0.1	-
December	1.9	1.2	1.4	0.9	0.4	0.8	-
Annual Total	471.8	653.8	614.1	445.7	473.3	580.6	399.6

Source: Revenue Commissioners

The negative figures that are displayed for some of the months of 2007 and 2008 reflect refunds of DIRT in appropriate circumstances. Section 34 of the Finance Act 2007 introduced a new scheme to allow the operation of DIRT exempt savings accounts where a qualifying individual, or an individual’s spouse or civil partner, is aged 65 or over during the tax year and, the individual’s income (or the joint income of the individual and his or her spouse or civil partner) is below the relevant annual exemption limit. This measure would have obviated the need for refund applications to Revenue over subsequent years.

Tax Code

Questions (68)

Terence Flanagan

Question:

68. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Finance the reason a divorced person is classified as self-employed for tax purposes (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42698/13]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

Employees, including those who earn up to €3,174 of other income and who have this amount coded against their income tax credits, pay their income tax through the PAYE system. Any individual with income, and this can include maintenance income, not taxed through the PAYE system must pay their tax through the self-assessment system. While this does include self-employed individuals it can also include persons in receipt of interest, dividends, rents, etc. A divorced person in receipt of taxable maintenance payments is therefore not classified as a self-employed person but rather as a chargeable person and pays the income tax due on their income through the self-assessment system. This classification is simply the method through which the tax due on the maintenance payments, if any, is collected.

The same rates of income tax apply regardless of whether an individual pays their tax through the PAYE system or the self-assessment system.

To prevent double taxation of income, where a divorced person is liable to pay tax on receipt of a maintenance payment, then the divorced person paying the maintenance payment is entitled to a tax deduction for that maintenance payment.

Revenue Commissioners Operations

Questions (69)

Pearse Doherty

Question:

69. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the number of advanced opinions the Revenue Commissioners have offered to companies regarding their tax affairs; the number of these companies that are multinationals; the format used to give these opinions; and how often they are given. [42755/13]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that advance opinions are provided by Revenue to clarify the tax treatment of a proposed transaction or business activity under the relevant legislation so that taxpayers can file a correct tax return and comply fully with their tax obligations. Revenue opinions are non-binding and seek to provide a considered and consistent interpretation of the applicable tax rules as set down in the legislation.

Revenue’s practice in providing advance opinions to taxpayers is set out in published guidelines and tax briefings including, for example, the Guidelines on Revenue’s Technical Service to Practitioners and Business Taxpayers which are available on the Revenue website. As there is a wide range of taxation information on the Revenue website and in Revenue publications, there are relatively limited circumstances where a company or tax practitioner should require an opinion from Revenue in advance of a proposed transaction or business activity.

An advance opinion will be given by Revenue only where the issues are complex, the transaction is unusual, information is not readily available or there is genuine uncertainty in relation to the interpretation or application of the relevant tax rules. Revenue will give an advance opinion on the tax treatment of a proposed transaction or business activity based on the information provided by the company or its agent and having regard to the relevant tax legislation and published Revenue practice.

Based on data available for the past three years, Revenue estimates that on average 115 advance opinions are issued to companies each year on corporation tax issues. The data available does not distinguish between opinions provided for multinational companies and those provided for other companies.

Non-Resident Companies

Questions (70, 71, 72)

Pearse Doherty

Question:

70. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if all Irish registered non-resident companies have to provide a country of residence; the penalty for failing to provide a country of residence; and the number of companies that have failed to declare a country of residence. [42764/13]

Pearse Doherty

Question:

71. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if any Irish registered non-resident company that fails to provide a country of residence, will be deemed to be resident here. [42765/13]

Pearse Doherty

Question:

72. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the number of companies that are Irish registered non-resident companies and the numbers by each country of residence. [42766/13]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

I propose to take Questions Nos. 70 to 72, inclusive, together.

I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that Irish registered non-resident companies which do not carry on a trade in Ireland have no liability to Irish corporation tax and have no obligation to file an Irish corporation tax return.

Non-resident companies that carry on a trade in Ireland through a branch or agency are liable to corporation tax on their branch or agency profits. Such companies are obliged to file a corporation tax return in respect of their Irish branch operations; however, the return does not require them to provide their country of residence for tax purposes.

While non-resident companies within the charge to Irish corporation tax are not required to indicate their country of residence in their annual corporation tax return, section 882 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (which was introduced in Finance Act 1999) requires companies incorporated in the State to provide certain particulars to Revenue within 30 days of commencing to carry on a business. Particulars to be provided include the company’s name, registered address, place of business, date of commencement of the business and, in the case of a company not resident in the State, the name of the territory in which it is tax resident. The purpose of this provision is to ensure that newly incorporated companies coming within the charge to Irish corporation tax are registered with Revenue for tax purposes.

While there is no specific penalty for failing to provide a country of residence in the statement of particulars, a company that fails to deliver a statement of particulars under section 882 is liable to a penalty of €4,000, with provision for a further penalty of €60 for each day on which the failure continues after a court judgement has been obtained.

There is no requirement in Irish tax law for a company to claim or obtain authorisation of non-resident status from Revenue and statistics on the number of Irish registered non-resident companies are not separately compiled. As a result, Revenue does not have an estimate of the number of such companies, the numbers of such companies by country of residence or the number of such companies that have not declared a country of residence. Nonetheless, Revenue as part of its normal compliance activity seeks confirmation from companies from time to time as to how they are structured with a view to ensuring that all relevant corporation tax rules are correctly applied.