Mr. Billy Irwin:

Earlier I tried to make a point about this, and gave the farmer application as an example. One can apply the same theory to the tourism industry in terms of cashflow. For example, asking guesthouses to estimate and pay their tax liability in June, when their season has just begun, would, I believe, be penal in the extreme. I shall outline one of the difficulties that might arise which could pose a danger to the system and lead to a breakdown. We are all interested in ensuring the system works, because it is in everybody's interest, including the taxpayer's. If the filing date had been last June, rather than October, then people would have filed their returns and paid their taxes for 2013. They would have been required to estimate the tax liability because they are in the middle of the year, but they do not have the benefit of the big investments that have been made in the Department of Finance and the Revenue Commissioners with regard to estimating. Last June they would have made very modest estimates, and tax returns as a result would have been considerably lower, as things have proved. Then we would run into the issues of penalties and charges that arise due to underpayment because things improved later in the year. That is a difficult position for taxpayers.