Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In the minute it will not be possible to respond to all those issues but I will touch on tax warehousing because I am aware it is a very important issue for a lot of businesses. At the end of March the value of debt warehoused was more than €2.2 billion across 63,600 businesses. Last October, Revenue announced an extension to the period during which debts can remain parked in the warehouse. This means that businesses no longer have the challenge of making arrangements to repay their warehoused debt until 1 May 2024. This is significant additional time, which will greatly support businesses in their recovery from the impacts of the pandemic. Revenue's expectation is that the extended timeline to 1 May of next year for entering into arrangements for repaying warehoused debt - this is for entering into arrangements, not for having to repay it all by that date - together with flexible payment arrangements, will assist most businesses to work through any payment difficulties.

When I look through the data of the very many of the businesses, the amount of tax they have warehoused is quite low. The bulk of the money is made up by a relatively small number of businesses. As is always the case when it comes to tax issues, the message to businesses is to engage with Revenue. Revenue know the importance of that scheme and this is why they have extended until 1 May next year the deadline by which businesses must have entered into an arrangement.

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