Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 9 October 2013
70. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if all Irish registered non-resident companies have to provide a country of residence; the penalty for failing to provide a country of residence; and the number of companies that have failed to declare a country of residence. [42764/13]
Amharc ar fhreagra71. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if any Irish registered non-resident company that fails to provide a country of residence, will be deemed to be resident here. [42765/13]
Amharc ar fhreagra72. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the number of companies that are Irish registered non-resident companies and the numbers by each country of residence. [42766/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 70 to 72, inclusive, together.
I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that Irish registered non-resident companies which do not carry on a trade in Ireland have no liability to Irish corporation tax and have no obligation to file an Irish corporation tax return.
Non-resident companies that carry on a trade in Ireland through a branch or agency are liable to corporation tax on their branch or agency profits. Such companies are obliged to file a corporation tax return in respect of their Irish branch operations; however, the return does not require them to provide their country of residence for tax purposes.
While non-resident companies within the charge to Irish corporation tax are not required to indicate their country of residence in their annual corporation tax return, section 882 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (which was introduced in Finance Act 1999) requires companies incorporated in the State to provide certain particulars to Revenue within 30 days of commencing to carry on a business. Particulars to be provided include the company’s name, registered address, place of business, date of commencement of the business and, in the case of a company not resident in the State, the name of the territory in which it is tax resident. The purpose of this provision is to ensure that newly incorporated companies coming within the charge to Irish corporation tax are registered with Revenue for tax purposes.
While there is no specific penalty for failing to provide a country of residence in the statement of particulars, a company that fails to deliver a statement of particulars under section 882 is liable to a penalty of €4,000, with provision for a further penalty of €60 for each day on which the failure continues after a court judgement has been obtained.
There is no requirement in Irish tax law for a company to claim or obtain authorisation of non-resident status from Revenue and statistics on the number of Irish registered non-resident companies are not separately compiled. As a result, Revenue does not have an estimate of the number of such companies, the numbers of such companies by country of residence or the number of such companies that have not declared a country of residence. Nonetheless, Revenue as part of its normal compliance activity seeks confirmation from companies from time to time as to how they are structured with a view to ensuring that all relevant corporation tax rules are correctly applied.
