Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We will write to the Department, as well as to the OPW.

The next item of correspondence is No. 1492B, dated 18 July 2018, from Mr. Paddy O'Keeffe, Tax Appeals Commission, providing information requested by the committee. There is a note on the money accrued as a consequence of appeal cases taken for 2016 and 2017; a note on the legislative changes that have taken place and further improvements; and a note on the number of cases in hand and the age analysis. For the information of the public, there is very interesting information in this document and I will ask for it to be put up on screen in order that people will see to what I am referring.

Question No. 1 relates to a note on the money accrued as a consequence of appeals received in 2016. It is alarming. We are told that there are three cases under active appeal and that the amount of tax involved is €361 million in respect of these three cases. That means that there is an average sum of €120 million involved in each of the three cases. We ask that these matters be dealt with as expeditiously as possible. They are cases that were lodged in 2016 and 2017. They were not lodged this year.

The next line deals with cases over €100 million. We asked that question and I am surprised to note that there are three still in the system, with an amount potentially due to the taxpayer of €361 million.

With regard to cases involving amounts greater than €10 million, there are 14 cases, with a total value of €350 million, which gives an average figure of €25 million for each case. With regard to cases involving amounts greater than €1 million, there are 61 cases involving a total sum of €166 million.

In total, there are 78 cases with the Tax Appeals Commissioner, with a potential value of €878 million in outstanding tax. Whatever the issues are, we will write back on foot of them to ask what special measures are being taken to bring the 78 cases to a conclusion. It is fine to talk about the 342 cases in which the amounts involved are less than €1,000 each. I hope it does not have a system under which it deals with matters in date order and that instead there is in place a system of streaming and prioritising, especially when there are three cases involving a sum of €120 million each. Some of the cases involve a dispute about a tax clearance certificate and there might be no money involved. We want a detailed report on the top 78 cases. We do not want to identify the people involved, but to know what special measures in the interests of the taxpayer are being taken to resolve them as promptly as possible. Are we agreed on that point? I think people will be surprised by the extent of the moneys involved in that handful of cases. The point has been made.

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