Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 27 September 2018

Public Accounts Committee

Business of Committee

9:00 am

Photo of Seán FlemingSeán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We have noted the correspondence and will ask Mr. Watt for his views on whether the legislation needs to be updated in any respect. We will note and publish that correspondence.

No. 1483B is correspondence from Mr. Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland, dated 11 July 2018, providing an update on the ConnectIreland dispute with IDA Ireland. An arbitrator has now agreed to deal with this matter. Mr. Shanahan has been told that the substantive matter will probably not be heard until 2019, so on it goes. We will note and publish that.

No. 1484B is correspondence from Mr. Niall Cody, chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, dated 13 July 2018, providing information requested by the committee including data on cases under appeal to the Tax Appeals Commission, cases of seizures of tobacco products, the 289 cases published in the 2017 quarterly list of tax defaulters and a note on good citizen reports. I wish to make a number of observations on the detailed contents of this letter. I draw members' attention to appendix 3 which outlines unpaid amounts, an issue that has been raised at this committee on previous occasions. There was always a presumption that defaulters on a published tax defaulters list had paid the taxes owing, as detailed in the list. However, we now know that the list only details the taxes due and does not necessarily mean that the tax was ever paid. Appendix 3 provides a breakdown of the data relating to cases in 2017. Of the total amount of cases published in 2017, the total debt as published at that time was €53.13 million and the amount that remained unpaid was €25.96 million. Essentially, only 50% of what was published had actually been paid. The most recent information relating to the unpaid €25.96 million at the end of June 2018 is that €11.64 million is not collectable, €8.4 million of which relates to cases of an inability to pay due to liquidation. There is still a balance that the Revenue Commissioners believe is collectable of €14.1 million and this is being actively pursued. We would like an assurance that a special effort is made by the Revenue Commissioners to collect the moneys owed by those on published tax defaulters lists. Mr. Cody has said that of the total debt of €53.13 million, an outstanding amount of €14.1 million is collectable and is being pursued. We would like to see a greater effort being made in this area.

The other part of the letter to which I draw the attention of members is that relating to the issue of the Tax Appeals Commission. We asked for a detailed breakdown on the level of tax in dispute and the amounts settled by the Tax Appeals Commission. Mr. Cody summarises the position by stating, "The wide range of practical and operational complexities is such that it is not possible to forecast the proportion of the debt under appeal that is likely to be collected". There is definitely a lacuna in the information available from the Revenue Commissioners and the Tax Appeals Commission. Nobody seems to be able to provide a clear cut figure on what is collectable as a result of the Tax Appeals Commission process. That is something that we will have to include in a periodic report. We do not have a full breakdown of the figures yet. I just wanted to make those two points about this correspondence from Mr. Cody.

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