Joan Burton
Ceist:80. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Finance the number and value of tax appeals in each tax district and division. [43149/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraDáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 11 October 2017
80. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Finance the number and value of tax appeals in each tax district and division. [43149/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra81. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Finance the detail of the €1.534 million currently under appeal between tax paid and which would fall due to be repaid if the Revenue Commissioners lost the appeals and tax not yet paid; and the estimated interest payable on refunds arising if the Revenue Commissioners lost those appeals. [43150/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra82. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Finance the amount currently held under appeal by tax head. [43151/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra83. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Finance if he will provide an analysis of open tax appeals by tax head, the tax years involved and the date the appeal was made. [43152/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra84. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Finance the number of appeals settled by the Revenue Commissioners in each of the years 2014 to 2016 and to date in 2017 by negotiation. [43153/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra86. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Finance the number of appeals received by the Revenue Commissioners to date in 2017, by tax head, district and division. [43155/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 80 to 84, inclusive, and 86 together.
I am advised by Revenue that it is important to make some general comments in relation to the information collated by it on tax appeals and the sources and limitations of this information. Revenue obtains the information relating to the amount of tax that is ‘held under appeal’ from its IT systems. Outstanding tax liabilities are automatically identified by the presence of an appeal stop marker that is input to suspend the collection of the disputed tax pending the determination of the appeal. This information is contained in Revenue’s ‘stop 16’ database. However, not all appeals involve an outstanding tax liability requiring the input of an appeal stop marker. A second ‘non-stop 16’ database contains such appeals. The information on this second database must be entered manually by Revenue caseworkers. In addition to the outstanding tax balance obtained from Revenue’s IT systems, caseworkers are also required to enter on both databases what they consider to be the amount in dispute in a particular appeal. This may differ from the outstanding tax liability where an appellant has made a ‘protective’ payment in case he or she loses the appeal. This disputed amount figure may not be an outstanding tax liability as such but could be the amount that Revenue may potentially have to repay or forgo should it lose the appeal.
The information contained in the databases is captured at a particular point in time and is not retrospective or cumulative. It is constantly changing as appeals are finalised either by determination by the Tax Appeals Commission or the Courts or by agreement with Revenue, and as new appeals are received.
An appeal against an appealable matter may relate to a number of tax periods in respect of the same issue. Each of these is counted as an individual appeal in the tables below.
In relation to the number and value of tax appeals in each tax district and division, Revenue has provided this information at a divisional level and not the much more detailed tax district level as it was not possible to do so in the limited time available. The following table shows the number of appeals with an outstanding tax liability (‘stop 16’ database) and the amount of that tax liability allocated to the relevant Revenue divisions.
Division |
No. of appeals |
Amount held under appeal (€) |
Border Midlands West |
519 |
64,685,230 |
Dublin |
829 |
166,914,457 |
East Southeast |
578 |
38,249,260 |
Large Cases Division |
900 |
840,385,025 |
Local Property Tax |
<10 |
87 |
Southwest |
1,211 |
43,214,713 |
Totals |
4,040 |
1,153,448,772 |
The following table shows the number of appeals with an outstanding tax liability (‘stop 16’ database) and the amount of that tax liability broken down by taxhead.
Taxhead |
No. of appeals |
Amount held under appeal (€) |
CGT |
182 |
121,975,064 |
CT |
239 |
172,655,822 |
IT |
3,130 |
346,557,489 |
PAYE |
188 |
233,896,324 |
VAT |
202 |
174,165,036 |
Other |
99 |
104,199,037 |
Totals |
4,040 |
1,153,448,772 |
The amount estimated to be in dispute in relation to these 4,040 appeals is €1,179,006,96.
In relation to those appeals not involving an outstanding tax liability (‘non-stop 16’ database), there are an additional 520 appeals accounting for a disputed amount of €494,134,885.
The following table contains information relating to all open appeals by taxhead, the year in which an appeal was made and giving the range of tax years for all appeals in that category. It is not possible to show all of the individual dates of appeal in the table. Instead, the year in which the appeals were made is shown.
Taxhead |
Year appeal made |
No. appeals |
Range of years involved |
CGT |
2007 |
<10 |
2001 to 2005 |
CGT |
2008 |
<10 |
1988 to 2002 |
CGT |
2009 |
24 |
2003 to 2004 |
CGT |
2010 |
12 |
2002 to 2007 |
CGT |
2011 |
19 |
2004 to 2009 |
CGT |
2012 |
45 |
2005 to 2008 |
CGT |
2013 |
29 |
2006 to 2009 |
CGT |
2014 |
43 |
2002 to 2010 |
CGT |
2015 |
29 |
2003 to 2013 |
CGT |
2016 |
39 |
1998 to 2017 |
CGT |
2017 |
31 |
1998 to 2016 |
CT |
2001 |
<10 |
1994 to 1997 |
CT |
2005 |
<10 |
1976 to 1999 |
CT |
2009 |
<10 |
2004 to 2008 |
CT |
2010 |
<10 |
2003 to 2010 |
CT |
2011 |
13 |
2000 to 2011 |
CT |
2012 |
16 |
2005 to 2011 |
CT |
2013 |
15 |
2006 to 2012 |
CT |
2014 |
14 |
2004 to 2013 |
CT |
2015 |
50 |
1999 to 2015 |
CT |
2016 |
60 |
2009 to 2016 |
CT |
2017 |
96 |
2007 to 2016 |
IT |
1996 |
<10 |
1991 to 1992 |
IT |
1998 |
<10 |
1991 to 1992 |
IT |
2002 |
<10 |
1998 to 2001 |
IT |
2005 |
<10 |
1980 to 2009 |
IT |
2006 |
<10 |
2000 to 2006 |
IT |
2007 |
<10 |
2000 to 2001 |
IT |
2008 |
<10 |
1996 to 2002 |
IT |
2009 |
47 |
1989 to 2007 |
IT |
2010 |
43 |
1985 to 2008 |
IT |
2011 |
179 |
1996 to 2010 |
IT |
2012 |
156 |
1998 to 2011 |
IT |
2013 |
280 |
1996 to 2012 |
IT |
2014 |
383 |
1996 to 2015 |
IT |
2015 |
488 |
1995 to 2015 |
IT |
2016 |
639 |
1987 to 2016 |
IT |
2017 |
1,096 |
1987 to 2017 |
PAYE |
2010 |
<10 |
2009 to 2010 |
PAYE |
2011 |
<10 |
2006 to 2008 |
PAYE |
2012 |
<10 |
2008 to 2010 |
PAYE |
2013 |
<10 |
2005 to 2011 |
PAYE |
2014 |
19 |
2008 to 2013 |
PAYE |
2015 |
28 |
2004 to 2015 |
PAYE |
2016 |
101 |
2004 to 2016 |
PAYE |
2017 |
85 |
2003 to 2016 |
VAT |
2004 |
<10 |
2001 to 2003 |
VAT |
2005 |
<10 |
2001 to 2001 |
VAT |
2006 |
<10 |
2005 to 2006 |
VAT |
2007 |
<10 |
2003 to 2004 |
VAT |
2009 |
<10 |
2005 to 2008 |
VAT |
2010 |
<10 |
2006 to 2013 |
VAT |
2011 |
<10 |
2003 to 2014 |
VAT |
2012 |
<10 |
2002 to 2012 |
VAT |
2013 |
13 |
2004 to 2013 |
VAT |
2014 |
18 |
2002 to 2014 |
VAT |
2015 |
39 |
1999 to 2015 |
VAT |
2016 |
45 |
2004 to 2017 |
VAT |
2017 |
69 |
2006 to 2017 |
Other |
2004 |
<10 |
2000 to 2002 |
Other |
2006 |
<10 |
2006 to 2006 |
Other |
2009 |
<10 |
2006 to 2006 |
Other |
2011 |
<10 |
2005 to 2012 |
Other |
2012 |
20 |
2001 to 2012 |
Other |
2013 |
14 |
1999 to 2015 |
Other |
2014 |
21 |
1999 to 2013 |
Other |
2015 |
33 |
2005 to 2015 |
Other |
2016 |
76 |
1999 to 2016 |
Other |
2017 |
28 |
2007 to 2017 |
Total |
4,560 |
Since 21 March 2016, taxpayers must appeal directly to the Tax Appeals Commission (TAC) and not to Revenue. The TAC is then required to notify Revenue of all new appeals that it has received. I am advised by Revenue that the number of new appeals notified by the TAC to date in 2017 is 1,536.
The following table contains a summary of the appeal notifications received by Revenue in 2017 by taxhead and Revenue division.
Taxhead |
Division |
No. of appeals |
CGT |
Border Midlands West |
<10 |
CGT |
Dublin |
<10 |
CGT |
East Southeast |
<10 |
CGT |
Large Cases Division |
<10 |
CGT |
Southwest |
<10 |
CT |
Border Midlands West |
15 |
CT |
Dublin |
29 |
CT |
East Southeast |
24 |
CT |
Large Cases Division |
21 |
CT |
Southwest |
13 |
IT |
Border Midlands West |
113 |
IT |
Dublin |
160 |
IT |
East Southeast |
187 |
IT |
Large Cases Division |
29 |
IT |
Southwest |
670 |
IT |
Other |
<10 |
PAYE |
Border Midlands West |
<10 |
PAYE |
Dublin |
59 |
PAYE |
East Southeast |
25 |
PAYE |
Large Cases Division |
<10 |
PAYE |
Southwest |
17 |
VAT |
Border Midlands West |
12 |
VAT |
Dublin |
14 |
VAT |
East Southeast |
31 |
VAT |
Large Cases Division |
11 |
VAT |
Southwest |
15 |
Other |
Border Midlands West |
<10 |
Other |
Dublin |
<10 |
Other |
East Southeast |
<10 |
Other |
Large Cases Division |
<10 |
Other |
Local Property Tax |
<10 |
Other |
Southwest |
13 |
Total |
1,536 |
In a recent PQ (no. 39468/17), Revenue provided information in relation to the amount of tax in dispute by band and the number of cases in each band. The figure provided (i.e. €1,534 million) was the amount considered by Revenue caseworkers to be the amount in dispute rather than the amount of outstanding tax liabilities held under appeal. It included information taken from both of the Revenue databases (‘stop 16’ and ‘non-stop 16’). The Deputy has requested further information in relation to this disputed amount figure of €1,534 million. Revenue has advised that, given the ‘point in time’ nature of the information contained in its appeals databases and other limitations, it is not possible to provide a breakdown between the tax that may fall to be repaid should Revenue lose an appeal and the tax not yet paid.
Revenue has also advised that it is not possible to estimate the amount of interest that might ultimately be payable by it in relation to potential repayments of tax without identifying the dates on which potentially repayable payments were made and without knowing the date of any future repayment or the circumstances of the repayment.
In relation to the number of appeals that were settled by negotiation between Revenue and appellants, I am advised by Revenue that it is not in a position to provide this information as it is not information that is routinely captured.