Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Everybody learns from this. I know all this is not specifically within the chapter but I hope it is relevant to what is a very big Vote. I thank the witnesses for responding in the way they have.

I have two very quick questions. I am coming from the position of small businesses and their use of the PAYE any time application. A small farmer may have one employee and the accounts cost €1,000 if they are done by an agent. With the PAYE process, he or she must input a weekly payment. It could be another small business, such as a shop. No matter who the accountant is, he or she could charge €20 per week for this. That means it costs €1,000 for this individual with one employee, meaning accountancy fees have doubled. If a business only has two employees, could this be done monthly? It would save inputting for very small businesses. I know the Revenue Commissioners are trying to get real-time and live information but how is this affecting the small guy?

I have a more global question on corporation tax and the mood music from the OECD, including proposals on treatment of multinational digital companies and how they are taxed. This is the minimum effective rate of corporation tax on all companies in all jurisdictions. Have the Revenue Commissioners carried out any calculations on how that would affect the corporation tax yield?