Results 10,981-11,000 of 26,610 for speaker:David Cullinane

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: Does it include housing?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: Will the Chairman circulate a note on that?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: There are a range of issues on which we are waiting for reports. We are waiting for a report from the Comptroller and Auditor General's office on the University of Limerick. We have accepted that until we get that report, we cannot advance it. We need to get that report first and then we can deal with it. There is the report on the consistency of intellectual property policy across all...

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 20: Corporation Tax Receipts (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: I thank Dr. Keegan for his document. I was not here for the private session last week due to a hospital appointment but I read the document. There are three areas I wish to discuss with Dr. Keegan. He talked about capital investment as one of the allowances that can be used to reduce a company's corporation tax. We know that, in 2014 and 2015, there was a spotlight on intangible assets...

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 20: Corporation Tax Receipts (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: Could Dr. Keegan explain what happened? I understand the concept of it. There was an 80% cap, which was changed in 2014. What was the nature of that change? There was another change in 2017 or this year but it was not made retrospective. Could Dr. Keegan explain the position in terms of percentages and figures and what is or is not allowed?

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 20: Corporation Tax Receipts (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: Was it removed in its entirety?

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 20: Corporation Tax Receipts (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: Does Dr. Keegan have any idea how much that cost?

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 20: Corporation Tax Receipts (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: Notwithstanding how it works and leaving aside accountancy jargon, I would imagine that when the change happened and the 80% cap disappeared for a time, there was a cost to the taxpayer. I would imagine that it did cost the taxpayer money and we took in less because this was an allowance that was greater than what existed in the past so surely it is possible to calculate what the cost was....

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 20: Corporation Tax Receipts (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: Dr. Keegan does not have an idea of what that is, however. Has it ever been calculated? Has the figure ever been published?

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 20: Corporation Tax Receipts (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: It is stated on page 47 of Dr. Keegan's document that section 851A of the Taxes Consolidation Act ensures that Revenue must treat the affairs of individual taxpayers in strict confidence except in a number of specific circumstances, which is correct. Why is that the case? Why would we treat them in strict confidence? What are the specific circumstances relating to exemptions?

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 20: Corporation Tax Receipts (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: Do a taxpayer's affairs not constitute a legal agreement? A taxpayer has a legal obligation to pay tax.

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 20: Corporation Tax Receipts (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: It is not a gentleman's agreement.

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 20: Corporation Tax Receipts (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: It seems to be treated as a gentleman's agreement, however, particularly if it is kept secret, if it cannot be deliberated upon and examined publicly and if we cannot have full public accountability and transparency. Are we treating it then more as a gentleman's agreement than a legal agreement?

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 20: Corporation Tax Receipts (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: Once the tax is collected, however, it is public money.

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 20: Corporation Tax Receipts (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: It may be an ideological argument but I would imagine that once it becomes public money, there needs to be an element of public scrutiny. However, Dr. Keegan has given reasonable arguments. I am trying to establish why a person's tax affairs are so secretive because I have raised this in the past with Revenue. Different countries approach it in different ways. We have gone down the road...

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 20: Corporation Tax Receipts (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: Absolutely.

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 20: Corporation Tax Receipts (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: I was only getting Dr. Keegan's opinion on the reason. I have raised my final point previously. The Comptroller and Auditor General carried out a report on it as well I do not believe it was a special report. It relates to hospital consultants who were able to establish companies for the purpose of avoiding income tax. I want Dr. Keegan to walk me through how an individual with a high...

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 20: Corporation Tax Receipts (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: But Dr. Keegan is aware of the practice.

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 20: Corporation Tax Receipts (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: Dr. Keegan is also aware that, for example, senior presenters in RTÉ who are on six-figure salaries do this. It has often been put in the public domain how they would set up companies that would be paid by RTÉ or, in the case of a consultant, by the hospital. The person would then get a salary from that company on which he or she would pay income tax.

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 20: Corporation Tax Receipts (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

David Cullinane: The salary would be a portion of the overall amount, but the rest would be treated as profit on which corporation tax would be paid. Talk me through how that happens. Is that approach available to every worker in the State?