Vol. 441 No. 7
45 Mr. Barry asked the Minister for Finance if tax clearance certificates have been obtained from persons appointed to State Boards; and if not his views on whether in the interests of fairness he should do so as State companies and Government Departments are not allowed to buy from, or give contracts to, private companies who fail to produce such a certificate.
The basic aim of the tax clearance procedures is to ensure that persons or groups benefiting from public contracts, in receipt of significant assistance from public funds, or being issued with State licences which allow them to conduct a business for profit, have discharged their tax liabilities. They must first produce evidence that their tax affairs are in order. This evidence normally comes in the form of a tax clearance certificate issued by the Revenue Commissioners.
Tax clearance procedures have been in operation for public contracts and grants since June 1986 and March 1988 respectively. In 1992, I announced that tax clearance would be extended to a broad range of licences concentrating initially on licences issued by the Revenue Commissioners.
The scope of the tax clearance procedures as a means of ensuring that tax obligations are complied with is kept under active review. I have no plans to extend tax clearance to public appointments, including those mentioned in the question.
