Tax Appeals Commission

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 4 July 2018

Wednesday, 4 July 2018

Ceisteanna (176, 177, 178, 179)

Michael McGrath

Ceist:

176. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the number of tax appeals before the Tax Appeals Commission; the value of tax these disputes amount to; the appeals by ranges (details supplied), respectively, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29627/18]

Michael McGrath

Ceist:

177. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the age and value of tax appeals before the Tax Appeals Commission by ranges (details supplied), respectively, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29628/18]

Michael McGrath

Ceist:

178. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the number of new appeals brought before the Tax Appeals Commission in each month since January 2016; the number of cases concluded in each month since January 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29629/18]

Michael McGrath

Ceist:

179. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the number of appeals before the Tax Appeals Commission that have been concluded since January 2016 that have been settled; the value of the settled appeals; the number that have been withdrawn; the value these amounted to; the number of cases that have been heard; the value these appeals amounted to; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29630/18]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Finance

I propose to take Questions Nos. 176 to 179, inclusive, together.

The TAC was established on 21st March 2016 and new procedures for making, processing, adjudicating and determining appeals came into effect. Before this date taxpayers sent their appeals directly to Revenue who then transferred cases to the Appeal Commissioners when they were ready for a hearing. Since that date, taxpayers send their appeals directly to the TAC which then notifies Revenue of the appeals.  The TAC has full control over the processing and hearing of appeals.

I am advised by the TAC that the number of appeals before it can change frequently, depending on a number of factors, including the number of additional appeals received each day; the numbers closed each day; how many appeals are part-settled and how many that will settle based on the outcome of a “leader-case”. The Commission can also be informed, by an appellant(s) or the Revenue Commissioners, that an appeal has settled or been withdrawn which might indicate a reduction in the number of appeals on hand; however, until this is confirmed by both parties, the TAC cannot deem the matter closed.

I am further advised by the TAC that it is not possible, for the most part, to provide the age of tax appeals before it, as many of them were transmitted to the Commission, in large tranches during 2016 by the Office of the Revenue Commissioners. In relation to those ‘legacy’ appeals, some were submitted by the appellant in 2016, to Revenue, but many had been with Revenue for some time before that. Therefore, it is only possible to advise of when the TAC received appeals in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Following its establishment in 2016, I am informed that approximately 3,322 appeals transferred to the TAC, at various stages during 2016, from both the Office of the Revenue Commissioners and the Office of the Appeal Commissioners. The TAC has further advised me that, as of 2 July, 2018 it currently has approximately 3,312 active appeals under its remit.

The TAC has informed me that this figure comprises of the following active appeals:

Appeals	Number
Appeals received 2016:	339
Appeals received 2017:	1,182
Appeals received 2018:	737
Legacy Appeals:	795
Pre Establishment:	178
Cases Stated:	81
Total	3,312

The TAC has provided the following tables outlining the number of new appeals received and concluded in each month since March 2016 and an outline of how appeals were closed from January, 2017.

Table 1 – New Appeals Per Month from 21 March 2016, when the TAC was established, to 31 December 2016 

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Appeals Received			112	83	74	90	113	71	81	78	94	105
Appeals Closed			16	9	14	15	24	14	14	22	40	41

Table 2 – New Appeals Per Month 2017

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Appeals Received	562	75	177	99	106	82	106	89	108	94	107	153
Appeals Closed	52	39	75	53	131	52	52	45	19	50	44	84

Table 3 – New Appeals Per Month 2018

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Appeals Received	264	134	160	104	192	61
Appeals Closed	65	320	150	137	125	79

Table 4 – How Appeals Were Closed

Year	Settled	Withdrawn	Determined	Dismissed	Refused	Merged	Total
2016*							209
2017**	412	178	40	41	7	18	696
2018***	423	128	17	118	174	16	876

* A breakdown of how appeals were closed in 2016 is provided in the Annual Report of 2016.

** 34 determinations were made in 2017 which affected 40 individual appeals.

*** 17 appeals have been determined in 2018 to date but 5 appeals are classed as Case Stated so they will remain active until the appeals have been heard by the High Court. Another determination made in 2018 related to a Case Stated in 2017 which has now been completed.

With regard to the value of tax that these disputes amount to, the following information has been provided by the Revenue Commissioners.  It should be noted however that, while Revenue also maintains statistics on appeals, for various reasons these will not necessarily correspond with those provided by the TAC. For example, there may be time lags in the notification of new appeals by the TAC to Revenue and time lags in the closure of appeals by the TAC following settlement of an appeal by agreement between Revenue and the appellant. As the TAC is now the competent body for the management of appeals, I consider that it is appropriate that it be the primary source for appeals statistics. However, there is one important piece of information that the TAC does not currently receive for those appeals made directly to it. This is the value figure for the amount of tax that is outstanding or in dispute.

I have been advised by Revenue of the following information in relation to the amount of tax in dispute with both corresponding value bands and age bands.

Band (€)	Total in dispute (€)
Below 10,000	8,857,022
10,000 to 50,000	27,823,637
50,000 to 1,000,000	241,019,031
1,000,000 to 5,000,000	296,901,742
Above 5,000,000	1,077,958,522
Total	1,652,559,954

Band (€)	Age (years)	Total in dispute (€)
Below 10,000	Less than 2	6,227,972
Below 10,000	2 to 5	2,430,773
Below 10,000	6 to 10	175,911
Below 10,000	Older than 10	22,366
10,000 to 50,000	Less than 2	7,876,221
10,000 to 50,000	2 to 5	15,947,769
10,000 to 50,000	6 to 10	3,622,980
10,000 to 50,000	Older than 10	376,667
50,000 to 1,000,000	Less than 2	51,958,123
50,000 to 1,000,000	2 to 5	130,243,388
50,000 to 1,000,000	6 to 10	55,298,194
50,000 to 1,000,000	Older than 10	3,519,326
1,000,000 to 5,000,000	Less than 2	45,267,724
1,000,000 to 5,000,000	2 to 5	143,470,676
1,000,000 to 5,000,000	6 to 10	95,695,757
1,000,000 to 5,000,000	Older than 10	12,467,585
Above 5,000,000	Less than 2	427,702,956
Above 5,000,000	2 to 5	470,843,250
Above 5,000,000	6 to 10	164,146,202
Above 5,000,000	Older than 10	15,266,114
Total		1,652,559,954

 

I have been informed by Revenue that the information requested by the Deputy relating to the value of settled, withdrawn and heard appeals is not collected centrally and cannot be provided. Revenue is currently looking at ways in which such information might be provided in the future.