Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 31:

In page 41, between lines 33 and 34, to insert the following:
“38. The Minister shall direct the Revenue Commissioners to present him or her with a report on the VAT status of those in the betting industry within 3 months of the passing of this Act which will examine the past VAT liabilities of the actors in the industry.”.

This is a bit of a hobby horse of mine and although I have tried to tease out the issue through parliamentary questions, I have not been satisfied. Certain companies should have been subject to VAT but were not. Those who pay betting duty are exempt from VAT, and I am not arguing that bookies should pay VAT. Nevertheless, a number of companies operate in Ireland but do not pay betting duty or VAT. The likes of Betfair or Betdaq operate a service whereby they are an intermediary and they do not pay betting duty. They offer a service between two individuals so they are not subject to VAT. Section 34 of the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010 implies they should be subject to VAT and I do not know any other service in the State that is not subject to VAT. I am interested to hear why these companies have not paid VAT. If they paid betting duty, it would be fair enough, but they have not. They have operated here for many years without paying VAT at all on the provided service.