Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am conscious of time. The electronic relevant contract tax, eRCT, system, is obviously exceptional in ensuring compliance but has caused concerns among small businesses. I will cite the example of person who does manual labour and office administration and, for argument's stake, it transpires when he is doing a VAT return for the period from January to April that he missed a payment notification for an administrative reason. This may be because he paid someone on a Friday night and made a genuine administrative mistake. This generally arises when the person is doing their VAT returns for a four month VAT period. In such cases, the person will be subject to penalties for missing the deadline. These penalties are onerous for small businesses. Larger companies have large numbers of staff, departments and resources to ensure procedures are followed correctly. Is it possible to provide some leeway, possibly until 23 May, for those who are doing the January to April VAT return? The critical issue is that if the business self-corrects within the period in which the VAT return is live and due, this should be acknowledged in some form. I know this will be difficult for the system but the current system is very onerous for small businesses paying small amounts of tax.