Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 January 2015
153. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Finance if he will provide in tabular form the total amount of money collected by the Revenue Commissioners in 2014 from self-employed persons; and the total amount of penalty interest collected by the Revenue Commissioners in that time. [1127/15]
View answerI assume that the Deputy is referring to that amount of Income Tax collected from Schedule D taxpayers (self employed persons). I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the net receipts of Income Tax collected from Schedule D taxpayers in 2013, the last year for which returns have been filed and fully processed, is shown on the Commissioners' statistics webpage at http://www.revenue.ie/en/about/statistics/index.html, under the heading "Receipts - Revenue Net Receipts by Taxhead on an annual basis". These statistics will be updated in due course.
As regards penalty interest collected by the Revenue Commissioners, I am assuming that the Deputy is referring to the penalties and interest arising from Revenue's various compliance programmes. Generally speaking, I am advised that monetary settlements reached between Revenue and taxpayers in the context of a compliance intervention will consist of additional tax, interest and penalties.
I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the total amount of tax, interest and penalties arising from compliance interventions in 2014 on all businesses, including companies, self-employed persons and partnerships, is as follows:
|
Tax € |
Interest € |
Penalties € |
Total € |
|
449.9m |
98.4m |
40.5m |
588.8m |
For the Deputy's information, tax legislation provides that the current rates of interest on late payments are 8% per annum or 0.0219% per day, on overdue income, corporation, capital gains taxes or stamp duty, and 10% per annum or 0.0274% per day in respect of overdue VAT and Employers PAYE/PRSI.
Regarding penalties, these can be either fixed or tax-geared and are applied by the Revenue Commissioners in accordance with tax legislation. The level of penalty arising will depend on a number of factors, including the type of tax default, the level of co-operation provided by the taxpayer in the course of the compliance intervention and the behaviour that gave rise to the default, for example whether the behaviour on the taxpayer's part was careless or deliberate.
