Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. He stated this is similar to the general tax treatment applied in respect of share-based remuneration for employees. He will appreciate that farmers are self-employed and there is a distinction in the tax code between employees and self-employed. That needs to be teased out a little further. Revenue should look at that to see if we can try to resolve this issue.

I am sure Revenue has been aware of patronage shares in Kerry Co-op and in other co-ops across the country, if it pertains to those such as Dairy Gold. The Revenue Commissioners will have been in receipt of capital gains tax returns from those who sold these patronage shares over the years. Why are the Revenue Commissioners now claiming they have to be treated through the income tax part of the code? This does not make sense and we deserve an explanation for that.

The Revenue Commissioners should afford the people in question a large degree of forbearance for all the reasons I outlined earlier, including the pressures the farming sector and farm families have experienced over the past several years.

As I said, nobody is trying to evade or avoid tax. People are happy to meet their obligations but want fairness and recognition that they are self-employed rather than employees, as outlined.

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