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

It is important to emphasise a number of points. One is that the requirement on businesses is to engage with Revenue now and to enter into an agreement by 1 May 2024. I have seen reports that they must have repaid their tax warehouse debt by 1 May but that is not the case. It is not even necessarily the case that there has to be a downpayment by that date but they must have entered into an agreement, which will then be implemented over a period.

A strict condition of the flexibilities that are currently in place, and the new ones that I will announce, is that businesses must file their current returns on time and they must stay up to date with their current liabilities. The commitment I am giving is that the warehoused debt will be treated very differently, as a separate liability, but it is only on the basis that current returns are made in a timely fashion and the current taxation liabilities are met. Even as it is, there is significant flexibility around payment breaks, deferral of the next payment date due, amendments to payment dates-----

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