I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the most recent year for which the necessary detailed information on claimants for tax relief in relation to service charges is the income tax year 2004. In that year an estimated number of 180,215 claimants on the PAYE tax record availed of the tax relief for service charges, but it is not possible to distinguish between the numbers claiming for payments made to Local Authorities and to private contractors.
This figure relates to the number of income earners in a position to absorb the tax relief either partly or fully, but does not include the numbers of qualifying claimants who, because of the operation of other deductions and reliefs, have their taxable income reduced to nil or have their tax liability reduced to nil by the impact of other tax credits. Accordingly, potential claimants for the tax relief for service charges whose tax liability has been reduced to nil in this way are not included in the numbers given in this reply. A breakdown of the total number of claimants by reference to each tax region is in the table.
Service Charges paid to Local Authorities and Private Contractors.
Tax Region
|
Claimants
|
Dublin
|
64,815
|
Border Midlands West
|
33,767
|
East and South East
|
42,629
|
South West
|
38,940
|
Large Cases Division
|
41
|
Unallocated
|
23
|
Total
|
180,215
|
The information is based on income returns on Revenue records at the time the data was compiled for analytical purposes, representing about 96 per cent of all returns expected. A married couple which has elected or has been deemed to have elected for joint assessment is counted as one tax unit.