Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 84:

In page 79, between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following:
“Notice of requirement to furnish certain information, etc.
63. Part 13 of the Principal Act is amended—(a) in Chapter 1 by inserting the following section after section 108:

“Notice of requirement to furnish certain information, etc.
108A. (1) The Revenue Commissioners may, for the purposes of the prevention and detection of tax evasion, serve a notice in writing on an accountable person whom the Commissioners have reasonable grounds for believing is likely to have further information, explanations or particulars in respect of any books, records (within the meaning of section 108), accounts or other documents relating to his or her supplies of goods made to his or her customers which may assist in identifying taxable supplies in respect of which tax chargeable will not be, or is not likely to be, paid requiring the accountable person to furnish to the Commissioners any such information, explanations or particulars as they may reasonably require and which they consider may so assist.
(2) A notice served under subsection (1) shall—

(a) specify—

(i) the date from which the notice shall have effect, being a date not earlier than 7 days from the date of service of the notice,
(ii) the information, explanations or particulars, referred to in subsection (1), required to be furnished to the Revenue Commissioners,
(iii) the period for which the notice shall have effect, being a period not more than 2 months from the date specified under subparagraph (i),
(iv) the period within which the accountable person shall furnish the specified information, explanations or particulars to the Commissioners, being a period not less than 14 days from the end of the period specified under subparagraph (iii), and
(v) the form in which the specified information, explanations or particulars shall be furnished to the Commissioners, and

(b) inform the accountable person of the consequences under section 115(8A) of failing to comply with the notice.”,

and

(b) in Chapter 3, by inserting the following subsection after subsection (8) of section 115—

“(8A) A person who fails to furnish to the Revenue Commissioners the information, explanations or particulars specified in a notice served on the person under subsection (1) of section 108A within the period specified in the notice shall be liable to a penalty of €4,000.”.”.

This amendment inserts a new section 108A into Part 13 of the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010. It also amends section 115 to provide for a related penalty. The amendment will assist in identifying tax evasion. The new section provides for the service of a notice by the Revenue Commissioners on an accountable person, requiring him or her to provide additional information or explanations in respect of his or her taxable supplies during a specified period. The notice will specify the type of information required and the format in which it should be provided. The measure will be used to address tax evasion by identifying shadow economy activity such as unregistered traders and suppressed sales by VAT-registered businesses.

For example, where the Revenue Commissioners have identified an unusually high level of cash sales in a business which mainly supplies to trade customers, there would be an indication that goods may be used in the shadow economy activity. The supplier may or may not be aware that he or she is facilitating shadow economy activity if the customer does not require a VAT invoice to be issued. Using the new power, the Revenue Commissioners may require a supplier to provide additional information such as, for example, relating to cash supplies for specified goods in excess of a specified value. That would assist compliance programmes in certain trade sectors.

The amendment to section 115 provides for a penalty where an accountable person to whom a notice is served fails to comply with that notice. This is being asked of us by the Revenue Commissioners, although it may be a contradiction of the previous discussion I had with Deputy Doherty, who wanted us to put PPS numbers on invoices. This is a genuine issue that has been highlighted to us by the Revenue Commissioners concerning cash businesses, where it is recognised there are substantial cash payments in a business to trade suppliers. We have been asked to seek the approval of the House in doing this in order to remove this form of tax evasion.