Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 1 March 2017
99. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Finance the number of persons here who are non-resident for tax purposes; the number of high net worth persons or similar identified by the Revenue Commissioners; the number of others; the amount that has been received from such persons in respect of each year since 2009 to date in 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10566/17]
View answerI am informed by Revenue that, in respect of 2015, the latest year for which there is complete figures, 22,024 individual taxpayers declared themselves to be non-resident for tax purposes on their self assessment tax return. The overall number of individuals who filed self assessed income tax returns for 2015 was 528,533.
The tax affairs of high net worth individuals, also referred to as the High Wealth Individuals (HWIs), are overseen by the HWI Tax Districts based in Revenue's Large Cases Division (LCD). The case base of the HWI Districts consists of resident individuals with net assets in the State greater than €50 million, together with their associated investment entities (e.g. trusts, off-shore funds, etc.). Family members with net assets of less than €50 million may also be included in the HWI case base. Also included are non-resident HWIs with substantial economic interests in Ireland.
LCD currently manages about 571 such individuals, together with some 697 associated investment entities.
The following table sets out the amount of tax (all taxes and duties) paid by individuals managed in the HWI Districts of LCD in each year from 2009 to 2016.
Amount of tax (all taxes and duties) paid by individuals managed in the HWI Districts of LCD in each year from 2009 to 2016
|
Year |
€ |
|
2009 |
€485,531,551 |
|
2010 |
€476,405,229 |
|
2011 |
€583,363,090 |
|
2012 |
€604,906,767 |
|
2013 |
€643,530,333 |
|
2014 |
€659,992,205 |
|
2015 |
€168,715,245 |
|
2016 |
€504,299,018 |
It should be noted that in the period between 2009 and 2014 the HWI Districts also oversaw the tax affairs of the partners in the four largest accountancy firms and the five largest law firms, who are dealt with in the South West region, and the above amounts include the tax paid by these partners in those years. It is not possible to disaggregate the tax paid by HWIs (as defined above) and the tax paid by the legal and accountancy partners in those years. In early 2015 LCD undertook a case base review of its HWIs and as a result of this review individuals who no longer met the criteria for a HWI were moved out of LCD and other individuals who now qualify as a HWI were moved into LCD. The 2016 amount includes a number of particularly large tax payments by a small number of taxpayers.
