Mr. Niall Cody:

I have spoken about the TAC and the issue relating to appeals at this committee previously. We have also appeared before the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach, to discuss the same issue. It is useful to put the issue into context. The TAC inherited a tax appeals system that was not fit for purpose. From 2009 or 2010, my predecessor made it one of her lifetime ambitions, as chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, to reform the tax appeal system. The previous Minister for Finance launched a consultation on tax appeals in, I believe, 2013. It was one of the few times that Revenue, as an office, actually made a submission to the Department of Finance. The TAC is independent of Revenue. The office which preceded it was also independent. We do not control the tax appeal system and we did not control it before the TAC was established. The legislation to deal with tax appeals was very limited before the Finance (Tax Appeals) Act 2015 was commenced. The TAC was then set up in 2016, and has been a major reform of the tax administration system. The TAC did not create the problem because there was a legacy system which did not have the proper system around it to provide for the listing of cases.

I pay great attention to proceedings of the Committee on Public Accounts, particularly when tax is being discussed. I watched the discussion this morning with the TAC. Some of the statements made, which Mr. O'Mahony did not make but which he reported, are based on a submission that was made to a recent consultation provided for by the TAC. I would be very wary of relying on submissions being made by what I see as vested interests. The legal framework for how the appeals system works is set out in legislation. We raise an assessment, or make a determination, or disallow a repayment. Those are formal processes that are then, by law, subject to appeal to the TAC. It is not a back office for the Revenue nor could it be.

In certain cases, there are issues around whether there are grounds for appeal. Sometimes, people make appeals without having the grounds to do so, and the TAC must rule on that matter as well. I do not in any way agree that we use the TAC as a back office. However, there are a number of issues with the process, and I am willing to set out for the committee the detail around the transition to the TAC. If the committee wants us to write-----