asked the Minister for Defence if he will make arrangements to ensure that a member of the Defence Forces is provided with his tax forms and insurance cards at the time of retirement.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Soldiers' Tax Forms and Insurance Cards.
56.
Members of the Defence Forces, in common with State employees generally, were from the outset excluded from the scope of PAYE and consequently the question of issuing certificates of tax free allowances to them on their discharge or transfer to the Reserve does not arise. Each non-commissioned officer and private of the Defence Forces on his discharge or transfer to the Reserve is issued with a form which, in conjunction with his discharge certificate, indicates his contribution record under the Social Welfare Acts. The form may be exchanged at his local office of the Department of Labour for an insurance card.
Is the Minister aware that many soldiers who have retired from the Army are experiencing difficulty in getting these forms and in some cases have had to wait six months to obtain them before they can get other employment? Would the Minister not instruct the Army authorities to see that these forms are available before the men actually leave the Army?
This instruction has already been issued. If the Deputy will let me have details of any individual cases of difficulty I shall be only too pleased to investigate them.
Would the Minister say if the cause of the trouble is that these are not issued during predischarge leave when, in fact, the soldiers are considered to be in Army employment? This was the original arrangement but I understood it had been changed. In reference to income tax, surely a similar form could be issued so that it could be used in the form of a P45? Otherwise, they will be taxed on everything they earn as soon as they start work.
I shall look into the matter.
Is the Minister not aware that it is a hardship on military personnel to have to repay income tax either by lump sum or large amounts deducted over a period of weeks? Is there any reason why Army personnel should not be included in PAYE in order to ensure that the extraction of this income tax will impose the least hardship possible?
I was not aware of any dissatisfaction with the present system.
The Minister should try to get an arrangement whereby a deduction would be made every week based on the average.