Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the amendments put forward by the Deputy in response to the Government amendment. With regard to the issues he raised around the tax warehousing scheme, this scheme is an essential element of the assistance provided by the State with the EWSS and TWSS. The tax debt warehousing scheme has offered valuable and practical liquidity support to businesses. It has assisted businesses with their cash flow during difficult trading periods. The objective of the scheme was to allow firms to recover, thereby helping them guarantee their long-term economic viability and survival. The scheme applied to VAT, PAYE, PRSI, employer debts and certain self-assessed income tax debts, as well as overpayments of both the TWSS and the EWSS. In the provision of the warehousing scheme, we acknowledged that there might be some overpayments of the TWSS and EWSS and there was a facility for warehousing of those payments on a cash flow basis. To qualify for the debt warehousing, businesses must continue to file a tax return even though their liability cannot be paid. This has always been a condition of the scheme. Whether it is VAT returns or PAYE information, employers have to state the amount of tax they should be returning on a weekly or monthly basis. They complete the form but do not have to return the cheque if they are not in a position to do so. Revenue knows exactly how much is being warehoused on a company-by-company basis. It is important to recognise that. People have come to me locally who are running their family hotels and were not able to avail of the various schemes because they were a director and were self-employed on that basis. The Deputy will be aware of this issue. Sometimes there are two or three in the family running a hotel and they have been excluded from these schemes. That is why they are asking for them to be extended. I hope the Deputy is not saying hoteliers who run family businesses should not be included because they might be self-employed and making their own separate tax returns other than through PAYE. I think he understands there was merit in extending the scheme to many people in those situations.

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