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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 30 Nov 1993

Vol. 436 No. 4

Written Answers. - Tax Collection.

Paul McGrath

Ceist:

91 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Finance if it is equitable that persons owing debts due to the Revenue Commissioners which have been passed to the Sheriff or solicitor for collection cannot avail of the 1993 tax amnesty whereas persons owing debts to the Revenue Commissioners which they failed to try to recover are eligible to avail of the tax amnesty; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

As I indicated in my reply on 18 November 1993 to a question by Deputy Broughan, the "incentive amnesty" applies not only to previously undisclosed liabilities but also to previously disclosed or identified liabilities which may be in arrears. However, to protect the Exchequer yield from the Revenue Commissioners' ongoing enforcement and collection programmes, certain categories of tax arrears, including arrears which had been passed to the Sheriff or solicitor for collection, had to be excluded from the scope of the amnesty. Arrears which are with the Sheriff or solicitor are at an advanced stage of collection and the taxpayers concerned had defied all attempts over a period at collection by the Collector-General. It was not considered appropriate therefore that such tax arrears should be included in the incentive amnesty. The arrears do however come within the scope of the general amnesty which provides for a waiver of interest and penalties.

Paul McGrath

Ceist:

92 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the fact that taxpayers are now being billed for moneys allegedly owing since before the year 1988; the reason no attempt was made to collect these moneys over the past five years; and his views on whether the introduction of a statue of limitations on these debts might improve collection measures.

Paul McGrath

Ceist:

93 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the fact that tax liabilities now being demanded from taxpayers were already cleared in the tax amnesty in the year 1988; and his views on the fact that in some instances the Revenue Commissioners do not have any record of these payments being made.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 92 and 93 together.

I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that some 137,000 letters issued to taxpayers in October of this year, informing them of the substantial benefits to be gained from participation in either the Incentive Amnesty or the General Amnesty (or both if appropriate). Those letters were not demands for tax. They were issued to ensure that taxpayers affected did not overlook the opportunity of clearing outstanding liabilities through the amnesty scheme.
Taxpayers were informed of amounts of taxes which appeared on the computer records of the Collector-General and were advised that, if they disputed the amount shown in the letter, they should contact their local inspector of taxes to clarify liabilities and to have their records amended if the figures — in some cases based on estimates — were too high.
I am aware that the letters which issued to taxpayers would have included taxes due prior to 1988 in cases where such tax was still recorded as outstanding. The Revenue Commissioners have informed me that a concerned effort has been made to collect such moneys in the five years since 1988. An Arrears Identification and Review Programme was set up in May, 1989 with extra resources to pursue those taxpayers who had not availed of the 1988 amnesty. This was a co-ordinated programme between the Collector-General's Office and inspectors of taxes. Its aim was to confirm the amount of the liability where necessary, to identify any amount which wasprima facie uncollectible and then to decide on the most suitable form of enforcement action for collectible arrears. To date, upwards of 50,000 cases have been addressed under that Programme and some £286 million has been collected. The Programme was resource intensive and was still underway when the amnesty was announced. At that stage, the Programme had been addressing the more difficult and time consuming cases. It is against that background that the letters which issued in October would have contained an element of arrears going back to years prior to 1988.
Any taxpayer who now finds that amounts of tax that he/she paid in 1988 still appear as outstanding on his/her records should immediately contact the Collector-General at St. Martin's House, Waterloo Road, Dublin 4 to have the matter put right. As indicated above the collection of entrenched arrears of tax is resource intensive requiring individual detailed case working. In this context there is no evidence to suggest that a statute of limitations would improve collection measures. Indeed, it would have the complete opposite effect if it fortified non compliant taxpayers in their resistance to payment.

Paul McGrath

Ceist:

94 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Revenue Commissioners are experiencing huge demands for computer printouts of liabilities by tax-payers and that delays in this regard may result in some tax-payers being unable to avail of the tax amnesty; if he has been requested to extend the closing date for the amnesty by the Revenue Commissioners; and the plans, if any, he has to extend this closing date.

I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that there has been no delay in dealing with requests by taxpayers for computer printouts of their liabilities to tax. The average time taken in dealing with such requests was three days.

I am further informed by the Revenue Commissioners that up to Monday 29 November, 1993 a total of 274,222 computer printed statements were issued by the Collector-General's Office in respect of some 79,300 cases. This does not include statements issued by the local inspectors of taxes in response to calls by taxpayers.

I have received representations from bodies representing accountants and tax practitioners and from numerous individual practitioners, requesting an extension of the deadline for making a declaration under the incentive amnesty and I have raised the issue at today's Government meeting.

In view of the huge level of interest in the amnesty and of the real difficulties faced by practitioners in processing of applications the Government today decided to extend the deadline for declarations until 21 December 1993, thus providing practitioners with an additional three weeks to process applications. Provision for the extended deadline will be made, to apply retrospectively, in next year's Finance Act.
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