Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 153:

In page 130, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following:

“VAT on food supplements44. The Minister shall within three months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before the Oireachtas a report on the different rates of VAT charged on food supplements and on whether certain categories of food supplements should be retained in the zero rate VAT category.”.

This relates to the application of VAT to food supplements, an issue that most Deputies, and certainly every Deputy on this committee, have been contacted about in recent weeks. I engaged on it with some people in my area. The view of someone in this sector whom I know is that, since 2012 when Revenue decided that it was no longer acceptable for all food supplements to continue to be supplied at the zero rate applicable to foods, we have had six years of highly disruptive and costly VAT disputes, with some products remaining VAT free while moves were made to apply the 23% rate to other products. The system has lacked clarity, is laden with disputes between companies and Revenue, and has become dysfunctional.

I acknowledge that this is an area of great change and that change has happened rapidly in recent years. The issue of food supplements and nutrition is evolving quickly. The application of our tax code to it needs to be considered carefully. If the Minister has a note on this amendment, he might place it on the record and we can proceed from there.