asked the Minister for Finance, in relation to the 1988 tax amnesty, the total amount of interest due on payments made, but waived, under the terms of the amnesty; the number of persons who benefited from the waiving of interest due; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Tax Amnesty.
42.
I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that, because of the vast number of individual cases involved covering all the taxes concerned, they did not compile statistics for the total amount of interest due by persons and companies who came within the terms of the amnesty. All available resources during the amnesty period were fully extended in coping with accounting and receipting procedures and could not be deployed to the costly exercise of calculating interest that might otherwise be due. The task of managing the amnesty would have been totally disrupted if resources had been expended on such a calculation. This disruption would have adversely affected the success of the amnesty.
I am also informed by the Revenue Commissioners that precise information on numbers who benefited from the amnesty is not available. In 1988, as a result of the amnesty, 357,000 more payments were receipted by the Collector-General than in 1987. This represents a 30 per cent increase in 1988 as compared with 1987. As many of those availing of the amnesty submitted multiple payments in respect of their various tax liabilities it is not possible to state the number of taxpayers from whom payments were received.