Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 38 together.

I am informed by Revenue that many outdoor operations are carried out by their joint investigation units with some operations carried out on a multi-agency basis with other Departments or agencies such as the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and the Workplace Relations Commission. The role of Revenue’s joint investigation units is to detect non-compliance with tax and duty obligations, including the non-operation of the PAYE system, arising from bogus self-employment.

As regards recent work of Revenue’s joint investigation units, for the first half of 2017, they carried out 5,450 outdoor visits, of which 1,841 were with other agencies. Revenue officers visited a total of 656 building sites, of which 231 visits were with other agencies. The results of this activity include the registering of 78 businesses as an employer for PAYE purposes, the registering of 685 individuals as employees and the registering of 145 persons as self-employed. As regards the construction sector, 38 persons were registered as an employer for PAYE purposes, 227 individuals were registered as employees and 44 persons were registered as self-employed. In addition, 291 individuals in the construction sector were re-classified from subcontractor to employee.

The Deputy will be aware that the PAYE system applies to the wages of employees in all sectors whereas relevant contracts tax, RCT, applies to subcontractors in the construction, meat processing and forestry sectors.

As to the Deputy’s specific question on RCT-related figures for 2015 and 2016 and to date in 2017, I will give the Deputy a table of the figures given to my officials by Revenue.

See this speech in context