Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This matter was specifically raised with me by my colleague, Deputy Ó Murchú, and a number of people have contacted me about it since. They have told me the small traders are deeply concerned about this.

Specifically, accountants are worried that among those smaller businesses that are struggling there is not enough awareness of this and that they need to ensure that come 10 December their outstanding tax liabilities from the previous year are settled as well as the presumptive liabilities for the current year. While many people are happy that an extension has been granted from 31 October or, say, mid-November to 10 December, there is a concern out there that there are small businesses that are not fully aware this is the case. We have been contacted by accountants who are struggling to try to ensure they facilitate these businesses and make them aware of the issue. We believe awareness of this matter needs to be raised. We want to highlight it to the Government in the hope that something might be done or, at least, awareness might be raised. There is a fear among many accountants that if they use the extension, they might not be able to meet those needs come 10 December. This Topical Issue matter has been raised to make the Government aware of this problem and to alleviate the concerns of those accountants and smaller businesses.

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