Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The Office of the Revenue Commissioners is responsible for the collection of taxes and a range of other levies and charges, and for their prompt transfer, either to the Central Fund of the Exchequer, or to other fund accounts or public bodies, as provided for by law. The Commissioners account for these receipts and transfers in the annual Revenue account. The account for 2019 was certified by me on 17 April 2020 and received a clear audit opinion.

Total receipts into the Revenue account in 2019 amounted to over €84.2 billion. Revenue made repayments to taxpayers totalling €10.1 billion in the year. As a result, the net receipts brought to account in 2019 amounted to just over €74.1 billion.

Tax receipts payable to the Central Fund amounted to a net €58.3 billion in 2019. This represented an increase of approximately €3.7 billion or 7%, compared with 2018. Note 1 to the account provides a breakdown of the receipts for the main tax headings. Other than capital acquisition tax, which experienced a very marginal decrease, all tax receipts increased year on year when compared with 2018.

Non-Exchequer receipts increased from a net €14 billion in 2018 to €15.8 billion in 2019, an increase of 12.9% year on year. Note 2 to the account presents an analysis of these receipts. This indicates that pay related social insurance, PRSI, receipts accounted for €12.3 billion of the total in 2019. These receipts are payable to the Social Insurance Fund.

Also included in non-Exchequer receipts was €2 billion received under the VAT mini one-stop-shop, MOSS, scheme in 2019. This was up 43% from the €1.4 billion collected in 2018. The receipts represent amounts collected on behalf of other EU member states under place-of-supply VAT rules in place since 2015. These apply to businesses registered for VAT MOSS in Ireland which provide telecommunications, broadcasting or electronically supplied services to consumers across borders. VAT MOSS receipts collected by revenue authorities in other member states relevant to services delivered to Irish residents are disclosed in the note on tax receipts.

Revenue’s administration and operational expenses are charged to Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners, rather than to the Revenue account. The Vote had total gross expenditure of €449 million in 2019. Salaries totalling €319 million continue to be the largest element of spend for Revenue.

The initial estimate for Revenue for 2019 was €446 million. Subsequently, a Supplementary Estimate of €4.1 million was provided to meet certain costs incurred by the Office of Public Works on behalf of Revenue, relating to new infrastructure it required at Dublin Port, Rosslare Europort and Dublin Airport in preparation for Brexit.

Appropriations-in-aid of the Vote for 2019 totalled €70.5 million. Over half of this is accounted for by payments received in respect of the agency service provided by Revenue to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection related to the collection and pay-over of PRSI receipts.

Net expenditure under the Vote amounted to €378.5 million, and the surrender for the year was €4.2 million.

In my report on the appropriation account for 2019, I draw attention to non-compliance with procurement rules. This is disclosed by the Accounting Officer in the statement on internal financial control.