The Deputy will be aware that it is not the practice of the Minister for Finance to comment in advance on matters related to the Budget. However I can advise him that the review to which he refers will be published around Budget Day.
The annual filing date for self-assessed income taxpayers is currently the 31 October. Taxpayers who file their returns and also make their appropriate payments via the Revenue On-Line Service, ROS, receive an extension each year. This year the ROS extended filing date is up to midnight on 13 November 2014.
As regards proposed changes, the Deputy may recall that, following a consultation process, I decided not to introduce any changes to that regime for 2014. The option of bringing the annual Pay and File dates forward remains, in order to provide increased certainty around the annual tax take and forecasting process following the move to an earlier Budget Day. However, given the success of the forecasting process in relation to Budget 2014 and given the concerns expressed by many stakeholders at the potential disruption that could be caused by such a change, I am considering whether it may be feasible to leave the dates unchanged for 2015 also.
Regarding the simplification of income tax returns for farmers with a low income, as I previously informed the House in my reply to Question 35936/14, the simplification agenda for all taxpayers is an issue that the Revenue Commissioners are very strongly committed to. Their strategies involve designing out complexity, providing quality services and minimising compliance costs for all taxpayers.
In relation to tax returns, there is a suite of simplified paper income tax returns which were introduced by the Commissioners in 2011 specifically as part of a customer service initiative aimed at reducing the administrative burden on any taxpayer whose tax affairs are not overly complex. These returns include a Form 11S, a short income tax return. It is acknowledged by taxpayers and agents that details required on this form are not overly burdensome and a much smaller number of fields have to be completed than for the full Form 11.
The main criteria used by Revenue to issue the Form 11S to taxpayers are:
- the taxpayer is not a mandatory electronic filer on Revenue's records and is therefore not obliged to file and pay using Revenue's On-Line Service (ROS);
- the previous year's gross turnover returned by the taxpayer is less than €75,000;
- the taxpayer has only declared 1 or 2 trades in the previous year;
- the total of all other income in the previous year is less than €50,000.
Any taxpayer who meets the above criteria is issued with a Form 11S, while those who do not meet the criteria will receive the longer version of the paper return Form 11 or will file electronically, via ROS, Revenue's On-Line Service.
There are significant advantages for a taxpayer in filing their tax return using ROS. These include:
- relevant information that is available to Revenue is pre-populated on the return;
- the taxpayer has only to input data to the income panels and accounts details relevant to their business and can ignore other non-relevant parts of the return;
- any liabilities in respect of Income Tax, PRSI and USC are automatically calculated within the system;
- an extended return filing date is available.
I am advised by the Commissioners that 87% of all farmers who filed their Form 11 in 2012 did so through the online system, sending a very clear signal that they find the online version very user friendly. This mirrors the experience of other taxpayers who also use the ROS system extensively to file their returns. A further 5% of farmers were provided with a simplified return Form 11S for 2012.
I am further advised that the Commissioners have recently been in correspondence with farmers' representatives on the subject of simplified tax returns and they have offered to have further discussions with those representatives, if required.
As previously stated, it appears to me that the Revenue Commissioners have put in place options for those taxpayers, including farmers, whose tax affairs are not overly complex to make it easier for them to file their returns. In particular, the ROS return has significant advantages for all taxpayers and this is widely acknowledged. I would strongly encourage taxpayers to file their tax returns through ROS.
