Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I draw the attention of Deputies to the need for a versional correction to section 52(1)(b) on page 96 of the Finance Bill, as amended in select committee. The word "allowed" was omitted inadvertently and should be inserted at the beginning of line 14. I ask the Ceann Comhairle to direct the Clerk to make the correction, as provided under Standing Order 134.

Let us now consider the amendments. As has been said, we had a long debate and discussed in some detail the matter of how the Revenue Commissioners do their best to ensure people are aware of their entitlements. They have been very proactive in this area, using every mechanism and technology at its disposal, including post, text messaging, free lines, telephone lines and forms. It has exploited the possibility of downloading forms from websites. It has used every possible means by which reasonable inquiries can be made by taxpayers into their entitlements. The Revenue Commissioners obviously have a vested interest in ensuring people have all the information required because this obviously allows for correct returns and ensures that all accounts are in order. The Revenue is doing all it is being asked to do, in every possible way.

Amendments Nos. 1 and 5, which are being considered together, deal with unclaimed PAYE overpayments. As I stated, we had a comprehensive debate on Deputy Burton's amendment on this topic last week. I did not accept her suggested use of the Ombudsman's office in the manner proposed in the amendment and I rejected any suggestion that the Revenue Commissioners had a vested interest in ensuring that taxpayers are not fully informed of their entitlements.

While I do not want to repeat all I said on Committee Stage, it is important that I re-emphasise a few points on the subject of overpayments by PAYE taxpayers. The Revenue Commissioners do all in their power, through various means, to ensure taxpayers are informed regularly of their entitlements and given, on request, all appropriate advice on their tax affairs. Revenue's customers can expect to be given the necessary information and all reasonable assistance to enable them to claim their entitlements. This is Revenue's commitment and it takes it very seriously.

There is no policy of deliberately over-collecting tax. Revenue administers the law fairly, reasonably and consistently and seeks to collect no more than the correct amount of tax. To pay the correct amount of tax under the PAYE system or to receive repayments due, the taxpayer must inform the office of his or her full entitlements. The PAYE system requires this information if it is to operate as intended.

There is no crock of gold in unclaimed repayments due to taxpayers, as suggested in some quarters. In respect of the 2003 tax year, 287,258 PAYE taxpayers, amounting to 17% of the total PAYE taxpayer base of 1.6 million, have so far made claims or requested reviews of their tax position. Of these reviews, 8% identified underpayments, 17% resulted in no change and 75% resulted in repayments being made. No repayment was due to one in four of those who requested reviews and one third of those to whom no repayment was due had underpaid. A sum of €185 million has been paid and this figure could eventually rise to approximately €306 million based on estimates and experience. These figures should be considered in the context of a total PAYE revenue bill of €7.2 billion in that year. Repayments of tax for 2003 that have yet to be made, and will be made as soon as claims are received from the taxpayers concerned, amount to less than 2% of PAYE receipts for the year.

The bottom line is that where a taxpayer has overpaid tax for a given year through the PAYE system, he or she is in the best position to know this. In many instances, the taxpayer will be the only person who knows that tax has been overpaid. It is simply incorrect to suggest, despite all the evidence, that the Revenue Commissioners are not doing enough to inform taxpayers of their entitlements and creating another layer of bureaucracy which will divert resources in the Ombudsman's office and will not alert taxpayers to their entitlements or hasten their claims to repayment. As in the public sector generally, the Ombudsman's remit covers the Office of the Revenue Commissioners.

On Deputy Paul McGrath's amendment, I understand that the view of the Central Statistics Office is that the data collected by that organisation on household incomes and expenditure patterns are not sufficiently comprehensive or detailed to identify potential overpayments. Moreover, many of the data are only collected at five-yearly intervals and on a sample basis.

See this speech in context