Vol. 383 No. 8
asked the Minister for Finance the amount of money collected as a result of the tax amnesty ending on 30 September 1988; and if he will give details under the various categories such as (a) VAT (b) PAYE (c) corporation tax (d) self-employed income tax and (e) capital gains tax.
87.
asked the Minister for Finance the loss to the Exchequer in interest and penalties of the 1988 tax amnesty in the first nine months of 1988 and for the 1988 full year; the total number of payments made to the Revenue Commissioners in respect of the amnesty; and the total amounts of money received by the Revenue Commissioners under the scheme to date.
88.
asked the Minister for Finance in relation to the recent tax amnesty, the total amount received by the Revenue Commissioners.
89.
asked the Minister for Finance in relation to the recent tax amnesty the total amount received under each of the following headings: (a) income tax (b) PAYE (c) PRSI (d) capital gains tax (e) capital acquisition tax (f) levies and health contributions (g) VAT and (h) residential property tax.
90.
asked the Minister for Finance, in relation to the recent tax amnesty, the total estimated amount of interest due but waived on payment made during the amnesty period.
91.
asked the Minister for Finance in relation to the recent tax amnesty the total number of persons who availed of the amnesty who had not previously been on the records of the Revenue Commissioners.
92.
asked the Minister for Finance in relation to the recent tax amnesty the number of persons from whom payments were received, broken down under the following headings: (a) PAYE, (b) self-employed, (c) farmers and (d) companies.
93.
asked the Minister for Finance in relation to the recent tax amnesty, the estimated amounts still outstanding under the following headings: (a) income tax (b) PAYE (c) PRSI (d) capital gains tax, (e) capital acquisitions tax (f) levies and health contributions (g) VAT and (h) residential property tax.
94.
asked the Minister for Finance if the moneys received under the tax amnesty have been divided under various headings i.e. farmers and the self-employed; if a list of this breakdown is available; and the amount received under each heading.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 86 to 94 together.
As I announced on 8 October after the expiry of the tax amnesty deadline, the Revenue Commissioners have indicated that the gross receipts from the amnesty and related measures were of the order of £500 million. The eventual impact of these factors on the budgetary outturn for the year as a whole will not be clear for some time.
At this stage it is not possible to say definitively how many persons availed of the scheme. However, some measure of the success of the scheme can be gauged from the fact that Revenue responded to more than 170,000 inquiries in relation to it. In addition, something in the order of 150,000 payments were either personally delivered or mailed to the Revenue in the final week before the expiry of the scheme.
A detailed analysis of the receipts, and of amount still outstanding, will not be available for some time. The resources of the Revenue Commissioners have been committed in the first instance to the task of lodging the money for the benefit of the Exchequer. This task has now been completed and Revenue staff are actively engaged in crediting the payments to taxpayers' accounts. It has emerged, however, that some 80,000 of the payments were accompanied by inadequate directions as to how the money should be credited. Revenue will have to clarify details of these payments. All available resources have been drafted in to expedite this work. Only when this work is completed will firm figures be available as regards the amount paid under the amnesty, the specific taxes, contributions and levies to which the payments relate, the extent to which people availing of the amnesty were not previously on Revenue records, and the amount of interest and penalties waived under the scheme.
It is hoped to be in a position to provide these particulars by the end of the year.
