Tony Gregory
Ceist:140 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Finance the steps, if any, that are taken to ensure that the landlords of multi-occupancy dwellings declare rent income for tax purposes. [1581/94]
Written Answers. - Declaration of Rent Income.
I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that they have a number of programmes in place to counter evasion by landlords and to ensure that they make correct returns of rental income. The special inquiry branch in the greater Dublin area and the local enquiry units in provincial districts focus on this issue.
The main focus is on the building up of registers of landlords and rental properties. The registers are built up from an ongoing examination of a variety of information sources, e.g. electoral registers and street directories, newspaper articles and advertisements in relation to property and information obtained directly from forms completed by third parties such as tenants and letting agents, from local authorities and from the public.
In addition, special inquiry branch in Dublin conducted 529 visits in connection with rental income in the period 1 January-30 September, 1994. In recently planned operations, the branch targeted and visited a number of localities in the greater Dublin area with a high incidence of rental occupation and sought details of rental income received by landlords. Further such operations are planned for the future.
In the years 1992 and 1993, special inquiry branch programmes in relation to rental income in the greater Dublin area identified 366 and 369 landlords respectively who were not declaring some or all of their rental income. The comparable figure for the first nine months of 1994 is 269 landlords.