Tax Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 11 October 2017

Wednesday, 11 October 2017

Questions (80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 86)

Joan Burton

Question:

80. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Finance the number and value of tax appeals in each tax district and division. [43149/17]

Joan Burton

Question:

81. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Finance the detail of the €1.534 million currently under appeal between tax paid and which would fall due to be repaid if the Revenue Commissioners lost the appeals and tax not yet paid; and the estimated interest payable on refunds arising if the Revenue Commissioners lost those appeals. [43150/17]

Joan Burton

Question:

82. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Finance the amount currently held under appeal by tax head. [43151/17]

Joan Burton

Question:

83. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Finance if he will provide an analysis of open tax appeals by tax head, the tax years involved and the date the appeal was made. [43152/17]

Joan Burton

Question:

84. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Finance the number of appeals settled by the Revenue Commissioners in each of the years 2014 to 2016 and to date in 2017 by negotiation. [43153/17]

Joan Burton

Question:

86. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Finance the number of appeals received by the Revenue Commissioners to date in 2017, by tax head, district and division. [43155/17]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

I propose to take Questions Nos. 80 to 84, inclusive, and 86 together.

I am advised by Revenue that it is important to make some general comments in relation to the information collated by it on tax appeals and the sources and limitations of this information. Revenue obtains the information relating to the amount of tax that is ‘held under appeal’ from its IT systems. Outstanding tax liabilities are automatically identified by the presence of an appeal stop marker that is input to suspend the collection of the disputed tax pending the determination of the appeal. This information is contained in Revenue’s ‘stop 16’ database. However, not all appeals involve an outstanding tax liability requiring the input of an appeal stop marker. A second ‘non-stop 16’ database contains such appeals. The information on this second database must be entered manually by Revenue caseworkers. In addition to the outstanding tax balance obtained from Revenue’s IT systems, caseworkers are also required to enter on both databases what they consider to be the amount in dispute in a particular appeal. This may differ from the outstanding tax liability where an appellant has made a ‘protective’ payment in case he or she loses the appeal. This disputed amount figure may not be an outstanding tax liability as such but could be the amount that Revenue may potentially have to repay or forgo should it lose the appeal.

The information contained in the databases is captured at a particular point in time and is not retrospective or cumulative. It is constantly changing as appeals are finalised either by determination by the Tax Appeals Commission or the Courts or by agreement with Revenue, and as new appeals are received.

An appeal against an appealable matter may relate to a number of tax periods in respect of the same issue.  Each of these is counted as an individual appeal in the tables below.

In relation to the number and value of tax appeals in each tax district and division, Revenue has provided this information at a divisional level and not the much more detailed tax district level as it was not possible to do so in the limited time available.  The following table shows the number of appeals with an outstanding tax liability (‘stop 16’ database) and the amount of that tax liability allocated to the relevant Revenue divisions. 

Division	No. of appeals	Amount held under appeal (€)
Border Midlands West	519	64,685,230
Dublin	829	166,914,457
East Southeast	578	38,249,260
Large Cases Division	900	840,385,025
Local Property Tax	<10	87
Southwest	1,211	43,214,713
Totals	4,040	1,153,448,772

The following table shows the number of appeals with an outstanding tax liability (‘stop 16’ database) and the amount of that tax liability broken down by taxhead.

Taxhead	No. of appeals	Amount held under appeal (€)
CGT	182	121,975,064
CT	239	172,655,822
IT	3,130	346,557,489
PAYE	188	233,896,324
VAT	202	174,165,036
Other	99	104,199,037
Totals	4,040	1,153,448,772

The amount estimated to be in dispute in relation to these 4,040 appeals is €1,179,006,96.

In relation to those appeals not involving an outstanding tax liability (‘non-stop 16’ database), there are an additional 520 appeals accounting for a disputed amount of €494,134,885.

The following table contains information relating to all open appeals by taxhead, the year in which an appeal was made and giving the range of tax years for all appeals in that category. It is not possible to show all of the individual dates of appeal in the table. Instead, the year in which the appeals were made is shown.

 

Taxhead	Year appeal made	No. appeals	Range of years involved
CGT	2007	<10	2001 to 2005
CGT	2008	<10	1988 to 2002
CGT	2009	24	2003 to 2004
CGT	2010	12	2002 to 2007
CGT	2011	19	2004 to 2009
CGT	2012	45	2005 to 2008
CGT	2013	29	2006 to 2009
CGT	2014	43	2002 to 2010
CGT	2015	29	2003 to 2013
CGT	2016	39	1998 to 2017
CGT	2017	31	1998 to 2016
CT	2001	<10	1994 to 1997
CT	2005	<10	1976 to 1999
CT	2009	<10	2004 to 2008
CT	2010	<10	2003 to 2010
CT	2011	13	2000 to 2011
CT	2012	16	2005 to 2011
CT	2013	15	2006 to 2012
CT	2014	14	2004 to 2013
CT	2015	50	1999 to 2015
CT	2016	60	2009 to 2016
CT	2017	96	2007 to 2016
IT	1996	<10	1991 to 1992
IT	1998	<10	1991 to 1992
IT	2002	<10	1998 to 2001
IT	2005	<10	1980 to 2009
IT	2006	<10	2000 to 2006
IT	2007	<10	2000 to 2001
IT	2008	<10	1996 to 2002
IT	2009	47	1989 to 2007
IT	2010	43	1985 to 2008
IT	2011	179	1996 to 2010
IT	2012	156	1998 to 2011
IT	2013	280	1996 to 2012
IT	2014	383	1996 to 2015
IT	2015	488	1995 to 2015
IT	2016	639	1987 to 2016
IT	2017	1,096	1987 to 2017
PAYE	2010	<10	2009 to 2010
PAYE	2011	<10	2006 to 2008
PAYE	2012	<10	2008 to 2010
PAYE	2013	<10	2005 to 2011
PAYE	2014	19	2008 to 2013
PAYE	2015	28	2004 to 2015
PAYE	2016	101	2004 to 2016
PAYE	2017	85	2003 to 2016
VAT	2004	<10	2001 to 2003
VAT	2005	<10	2001 to 2001
VAT	2006	<10	2005 to 2006
VAT	2007	<10	2003 to 2004
VAT	2009	<10	2005 to 2008
VAT	2010	<10	2006 to 2013
VAT	2011	<10	2003 to 2014
VAT	2012	<10	2002 to 2012
VAT	2013	13	2004 to 2013
VAT	2014	18	2002 to 2014
VAT	2015	39	1999 to 2015
VAT	2016	45	2004 to 2017
VAT	2017	69	2006 to 2017
Other	2004	<10	2000 to 2002
Other	2006	<10	2006 to 2006
Other	2009	<10	2006 to 2006
Other	2011	<10	2005 to 2012
Other	2012	20	2001 to 2012
Other	2013	14	1999 to 2015
Other	2014	21	1999 to 2013
Other	2015	33	2005 to 2015
Other	2016	76	1999 to 2016
Other	2017	28	2007 to 2017
Total		4,560

Since 21 March 2016, taxpayers must appeal directly to the Tax Appeals Commission (TAC) and not to Revenue. The TAC is then required to notify Revenue of all new appeals that it has received. I am advised by Revenue that the number of new appeals notified by the TAC to date in 2017 is 1,536.

The following table contains a summary of the appeal notifications received by Revenue in 2017 by taxhead and Revenue division.

Taxhead	Division	No. of appeals
CGT	Border Midlands West	<10
CGT	Dublin	<10
CGT	East Southeast	<10
CGT	Large Cases Division	<10
CGT	Southwest	<10
CT	Border Midlands West	15
CT	Dublin	29
CT	East Southeast	24
CT	Large Cases Division	21
CT	Southwest	13
IT	Border Midlands West	113
IT	Dublin	160
IT	East Southeast	187
IT	Large Cases Division	29
IT	Southwest	670
IT	Other	<10
PAYE	Border Midlands West	<10
PAYE	Dublin	59
PAYE	East Southeast	25
PAYE	Large Cases Division	<10
PAYE	Southwest	17
VAT	Border Midlands West	12
VAT	Dublin	14
VAT	East Southeast	31
VAT	Large Cases Division	11
VAT	Southwest	15
Other	Border Midlands West	<10
Other	Dublin	<10
Other	East Southeast	<10
Other	Large Cases Division	<10
Other	Local Property Tax	<10
Other	Southwest	13
Total		1,536

In a recent PQ (no. 39468/17), Revenue provided information in relation to the amount of tax in dispute by band and the number of cases in each band. The figure provided (i.e. €1,534 million) was the amount considered by Revenue caseworkers to be the amount in dispute rather than the amount of outstanding tax liabilities held under appeal. It included information taken from both of the Revenue databases (‘stop 16’ and ‘non-stop 16’). The Deputy has requested further information in relation to this disputed amount figure of €1,534 million. Revenue has advised that, given the ‘point in time’ nature of the information contained in its appeals databases and other limitations, it is not possible to provide a breakdown between the tax that may fall to be repaid should Revenue lose an appeal and the tax not yet paid.

Revenue has also advised  that it is not possible to estimate the amount of interest that might ultimately be payable by it in relation to potential repayments of tax without identifying the dates on which potentially repayable payments were made and without knowing the date of any future repayment or the circumstances of the repayment. 

In relation to the number of appeals that were settled by negotiation between Revenue and appellants, I am advised by Revenue that it is not in a position to provide this information as it is not information that is routinely captured.