Vol. 499 No. 1
477 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Finance the average length of time taken by the charities section of the Revenue Commissioners over the past five years to process an application for charitable status from original receipt of the application to the final decision to grant or refuse charitable status; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1277/99]
478 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Fin ance the number of bodies with charitable status known to have become defunct in each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1278/99]
489 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Finance the number of applications for charitable status received by the Revenue Commissioners in each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1289/99]
490 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Finance the number of applications for charitable status granted in each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1290/99]
491 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Finance the number of applications for charitable status refused in each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1291/99]
492 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Finance the number of applications for charitable status submitted and subsequently withdrawn for each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1292/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 477, 478, 489, 490, 491 and 492 together.
I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that, for the past two years or so, the average length of official time taken to process an application for charitable tax exemption was of the order of six weeks. The processing time varies, depending on the extent to which an application is accompanied by all the information needed by Revenue and on whether all the conditions for granting exemptions are met when the initial application is made. The present processing time is an improvement on the years before 1997 which is attributable to the publication by Revenue in October 1996 of a comprehensive information booklet to assist applicants to make more complete applications. In the years prior to 1997, it took approximately eight to ten weeks on average to process an application.
The remaining information sought by the Deputy is set out in the following table.
|
Year |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
|
Number of applications received |
342 |
359 |
502 |
505 |
535 |
|
Number of applications refused (1). |
105 |
117 |
77 |
59 |
16 |
|
Number of applications submittedand subsequently withdrawn (2). |
None |
None |
None |
None |
1 |
|
Number of applications granted (3). |
204 |
255 |
289 |
354 |
359 |
|
Number of defunct bodies |
2 |
7 |
7 |
12 |
(4)1,493 (4) |
479 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Finance the number of unincorporated bodies, clubs, societies, associations and so on which enjoy charitable status; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1279/99]
The Revenue Commissioners have informed me that separate statistics of unincorporated bodies holding charitable tax exemption are not maintained and that the information requested by the Deputy could be obtained only by the expenditure of an inordinate amount of official time. The number of bodies holding exemption which do not include "limited" in their title is 4,739. However, some of these may have been permitted by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to omit this term from their title under the provisions of section 24 of the Companies Act, 1963.
480 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Finance the number of bodies having charitable status which have as sole or principal objective the delivery of personal social services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1280/99]
Charitable tax exemption is granted where a body has as its sole or primary objective the advancement of education; the advancement of religion; the relief of poverty; or other works of a charitable nature beneficial to the community.
The Revenue Commissioners have informed me that entities whose sole or principal objective is the delivery of personal social services might qualify for exemption under more than one of these headings. As records are not maintained separately on such entities the information requested cannot be provided.
481 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Finance the proposals, if any, to review the pro cedure by which applications for charitable status are processed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1281/99]
I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that a comprehensive application process must be gone through by bodies seeking charitable tax exemptions and stringent conditions apply where exemption is granted. The considerations taken into account in deciding cases and the requirements to be fufilled by applicants are set out in information booklet CHY1 entitled "Applying for Relief from Tax on the Income and Property of Charities", a copy of which has been placed in the Oireachtas Library. I should mention that in his 1992 report, the Comptroller and Auditor General noted that the charities section of the Revenue Commissioners examined applications for tax exempt status and ensured that the legislative and administrative procedures were complied with before exemption was granted.
The Revenue Commissioners have advised me that they have no proposals to review the current application process.
482 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Finance if any of the 32 tax exempt charitable bodies that have applied not to have their names published as outlined in a newspaper article (details supplied) have availed of exemption from income tax; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1282/99]
483 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Finance if any of the 32 tax exempt charitable bodies that have applied not to have their names published as outlined in a newspaper article (details supplied) have availed of exemption from corporation tax; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1283/99]
484 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Finance if any of the 32 tax exempt charitable bodies that have applied not to have their names published as outlined in a newspaper article (details supplied) have availed of exemption from deposit interest retention tax; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1284/99]
485 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Finance if any of the 32 tax exempt charitable bodies that have applied not to have their names published as outlined in a newspaper article (details supplied) have availed of exemption from capital gains tax; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1285/99]
486 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Finance if any of the 32 tax exempt charitable bodies that have applied not to have their names published as outlined in a newspaper article (details supplied) have availed of exemption from capital acquisition tax; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1286/99]
487 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Finance if any of the 32 tax exempt charitable bodies that have applied not to have their names published as outlined in a newspaper article (details supplied) have availed of exemption from stamp duty; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1287/99]
488 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Finance if any of the 32 tax exempt charitable bodies that have applied not to have their names published as outlined in a newspaper article (details supplied) have availed of exemption from probate tax; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1288/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 482, 483, 484, 485, 486, 487 and 488 together.
I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that 20 bodies, not 32 raised objection to inclusion of their names in a list of tax exempt charities which was recently made public by Revenue. A further 107 bodies agreed to disclosure subject to certain conditions being met. As the Deputy may be aware, the information commissioners will decide on the question of disclosure in these cases under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, 1997.
Where exemption is granted a body would qualify for relief from the taxes referred to in the questions where such liability was incurred. However, the Revenue Commissioners do not have information to hand as to which of the bodies in question actually availed of exemption from these taxes and they have advised me that this information could be established only by a detailed examination of the records of the bodies in question.
