Dermot Ahern
Ceist:52 Mr. D. Ahern asked the Minister for Finance whether he intends to assist cross-Border workers in connection with their taxation campaign; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21532/96]
Written Answers. - Taxation of Cross-Border Workers.
As the Deputy is aware, the issues involved in the taxation of cross-Border workers were thoroughly investigated by an interdepartmental committee which I established last year. This committee found that the treatment of cross-Border workers for the purposes of income tax is fair and reasonable vis-á-vis other Irish taxpayers. Consequently, the committee felt there is no justification for any special income tax treatment of these workers as compared to any other category of Irish resident taxpayers.
However, the committee made other recommendations, most notably to exempt cross-Border workers from the health and employment and training levies. As the Deputy is no doubt aware, I announced such an exemption in this year's budget and this was introduced in this year's Social Welfare Act.
The committee also recommended that cross-Border workers should avail of the direct debit system as a means of paying their Irish tax liability and this now applies for the preliminary tax payment due on 1 November 1996 and on 1 November of subsequent years. Full details of this system, including an explanatory leaflet, are available from the Revenue Commissioners.
A further recommendation of the committee was that there should be consultation between the Irish and UK tax authorities in order to clarify the scope of Article 18 of the Ireland-UK Double Taxation Agreement. Negotiations have commenced and are still taking place on this issue. It is hoped that they can be concluded shortly. However, it is important to note that the 1976 Ireland-UK Double Taxation Agreement is a bilateral one and, as such, any changes to it must be agreed to by the UK Government.