Results 11,581-11,600 of 26,037 for speaker:Kieran O'Donnell

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: Each of the case workers has 1,200 cases on their files at any one time because there are 3,650 cases, which is too many. For me, it is basic stuff. That is where there is a logjam. Does the Department expect three case managers to pull back a year? The appeals commission is great. Did the Department seek more resources in terms of case managers?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: Will the Department get them?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: There are 3,650 appeals cases. How many of them have been dealt with by the case managers but await being heard by the appeals commissioners?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: Fine.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: There are roughly 270 cases at the moment that could be heard by the appeals commissioners. For me, there are two logjams so clearly the Department does not have enough case managers. One additional appeals commissioner will make a huge impact. How many cases does an appeals commissioner hear in a year?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: People must wait a year for their appeal to be heard by an appeals commissioner, which is unacceptable to clients as the waiting period is too long. How can we return to a waiting time of three months? Mr. O'Mahony has told me that under the current system if the three commissioners hear about 150 cases each a year then the total is only about 400 cases a year. How many additional cases...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: We have a serious problem because there are 3,650 cases with 1,800 cases being lodged per year and each commissioner deals with approximately 150 cases per year. Let us say we have four appeals commissioners, then at best that is 600 cases a year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: So the commission is going from three to six commissioners, and from three case managers to-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: I will not labour the point. It was always a frustration. As an institution, has the Tax Appeals Commission a target for what it believes is a reasonable time for a case to be heard on an appeal? I referred to three months but has the commission set a target?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: I thank Mr. O'Mahony.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: May I interject?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: Prior to that, 2,700 additional legacy cases came from the Revenue Commissioners. Staff were tied up across the country in the Revenue Commissioners' local tax offices working on these cases. These cases have effectively been shipped on to the Tax Appeals Commission. There is a staffing problem here. What was happening in reality was that an appeal was made, a telephone call was made by...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: I have no doubt that in respect of that figure of 2,700 cases that came from the Revenue Commissioners, were one to look at individual tax districts some would have been highly efficient and some would not. Everything is now being processed through the same filter and the commission has a backlog of one year already. I have genuine concerns.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: I thank Ms Donaghy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: Does that mean that 60% are?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: Some 50% to 60% of cases are represented by barristers.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: Some 50% of cases being represented by barristers is far too high for me. That means it has become a legal process. That was not what the appeals process was set up to do.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: It was set up to help the taxpayer and I have grave worries that it will end up becoming a legal process. The first advice any person who is appealing to the Tax Appeals Commission will get from their tax adviser or accountant will be to recommend that a barrister be present. If one does not have a barrister present, most other people will have. That is something that goes against the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: I am putting solicitors in the same category - I hope they will take this categorisation in the spirit that it is given - which is the legal profession.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Tax Appeals) (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (30 May 2019)

Kieran O'Donnell: Ms Gallagher is including accountants in the legal profession. Would the Vice Chairman consider himself as a member of the legal profession?