asked the Minister for Finance how many taxpayers were overassessed in the last financial year because of their inability to furnish bankers' certificates of interest paid owing to the bank closure of April 1970; and, if such overassessments come to a substantial total, what allowance has been made for a lower yield in respect of the financial year 1971-72.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Tax Overassessments.
27.
Relief for bank interest is legally allowable only by way of repayment after the end of the year of assessment, but in practice relief is normally allowed on a provisional basis in the assessment and later adjusted where necessary. It is understood that certificates of the interest paid in the year ended December 31, 1970, were freely available by mid-February, 1971, and there is no reason to believe that any significant number of taxpayers was over-charged to tax in the year 1970-71 because of their inability to furnish certificates of bank interest paid.
In the circumstances the second part of the question does not arise.