Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 12 Dec 1991

Vol. 414 No. 6

Written Answers. - Tax Audits.

Richard Bruton

Ceist:

107 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance if he will outline (1) the largest single underpayment of tax unearthed in the audit of self-assessed taxes in 1991 and (2) the classification of the number of audits producing extra yield by the size of underpayment in respect of each of the self-assessed taxes.

Minister for Finance (Mr. B. Ahern)

The largest single underpayment of tax unearthed in a self-assessment audit case during 1991 was £515,487. This amount covered many years and included undercharges in respect of income tax, value-added-tax and PAYE.

Individual and company cases selected for self-assessment audit are examined under all relevant tax heads as appropriate. A detailed analysis of the yield from self-assessment audits under each particular tax head is not available. However, a recent analysis of 520 completed cases, companies and individuals, produced the following results:

Range of yield	Percentage of total cases
£	%
Nil	Nil	21
0 to	1,000	6
1,001 to	3,000	16
3,001 to	5,000	12
5,001 to	10,000	22
10,001 to	20,000	10
20,001 to	50,000	9
50,001 to	100,000	3
Over 100,000	1
	100

Cases are, in the main, selected for audit on the basis of some perceived defect in the return or supporting accounts. For this reasons the above statistics should not be taken as an indicator of the general level of compliance.