Mr. Niall Cody:

The pay and file self-assessment deadline is legally 31 October. We extended it to 12 November for those who file and pay electronically and that is the standard approach we have had for a long number of years. In the light of the current environment, we have extended that to 10 December but in addition, and in the context of the Finance Bill that is before the House, we have extended the debt warehousing arrangement that is in place for self-assessed taxpayers. That was for employers' PAYE, PRSI and VAT. In the Finance Bill, it is being extended to liabilities under self-assessment for 2019 where the taxpayer has suffered a reduction of 25% in income as a result of Covid-19. That is important because it allows accountants to assess their clients and to say that if a client has a likely liability that it is not able to pay, the return should be filed by 10 December. Some people will not have a liability so it allows them to manage their portfolio of clients in a way that the exposure can be minimised. We have already told the tax administration liaison committee, which is where we engage with the accountancy bodies and the Law Society, that we will take a pragmatic approach on individual cases. I appreciate the remarks members have made and the thanks we have received but it would be great if we were back to members giving out to us for not collecting money, instead of thanking us for paying out a load of money. It would be great to get back to that place.