Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 22 Oct 1996

Vol. 470 No. 4

Written Answers. - Revenue Commissioners.

Bertie Ahern

Ceist:

83 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Minister for Finance the number of businesses registered with the Revenue Commissioners; whether they are classified as multinational, large, medium or small; and, if so, the number in each category. [19332/96]

Bertie Ahern

Ceist:

84 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Minister for Finance the number of farming units registered with the Revenue Commissioners; and whether they are classified as large, medium or small. [19333/96]

Minister for Finance (Mr. Quinn)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 83 and 84 together.

I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the relevant information currently available on businesses registered for tax purposes is as follows:

Taxhead

Classification	Value-Added Tax	PAYE/PRSI (employers)	Corporation Tax	Income Tax (non-PAYE)
Small	87,500	102,300	not available	not available
Medium	56,400	31,900	not available	not available
Large	2,800	3,400	not available	not available
Total	146,700	137,600	75,000	268,000

The classification of business on tax records as large, medium or small is by reference to the amount of tax liability under each taxhead. These classifications are used purely for the purposes of tax collection management and may not conform to definitions based on other commercial criteria.

Some businesses which are registered for more than one tax are included more than once in the figures. It is tentatively estimated that the total number of businesses on tax records, counting each business only once, is of the order of 320,000.

The register for value added tax does not include businesses which are exempt from that tax, for example, financial services, banking, medical and education services. These are registered for PAYE/PRSI, corporation tax or income tax — non-PAYE — as appropriate. Statistics are not available which would enable the numbers of businesses classified as multinationals to be provided.

The number of tax units which are identified on income tax records as being in receipt of farming profits is estimated at 102,000, and this number is included in the figure of 268,000 given above for income tax, non-PAYE. It includes some 19,200 farmers who are not formally assessed to tax annually because their incomes are clearly too low to attract a tax liability. Farm units are not classified by size.