Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 51: To ask the Minister for Finance when additional data will be available from the Revenue Commissioners giving information on the cost and take-up of tax reliefs for which there are now no accurate estimates. [2555/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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My Department and the Office of the Revenue Commissioners have been working closely to investigate information and data capture issues with a view to improving data quality and transparency without overburdening compliant taxpayers. Arising from this work, Revenue are introducing a number of changes to the tax return forms which will yield additional information regarding the cost of various tax reliefs. Provisions were included in Finance Act 2004 to underpin these changes.

Changes were made in this area previously: the Finance Act 2003 stipulated that returns of income must henceforth be made for stallion stud fees and commercially managed woodlands. This will provide better data in this area and enable estimates of the tax foregone to be made.

In addition, the use of electronic filing of tax returns by means of the Revenue on-linesystem, ROS, has been increasing and will continue to be encouraged. Returns filed using ROS can more readily accommodate information data capture.

It would not be practical or desirable for each and every relief to be captured as some of them are on such a small scale that the cost involved in doing so would not be commensurate with the value of the information sought. Equally the manner of capturing information on tax reliefs is not limited to examining return forms. For example, there is no need to seek information on tax returns on the tax exemption for child benefit as the cost involved can be estimated from other sources. For the self-assessed taxpayer this information will be captured on the 2004 return of income form which should be filed by the end of October 2005. Preliminary information should become available some time after that date, probably in early 2006.

In respect of PAYE taxpayers, the relevant return of income form and the associated system for taking in, recording and processing information from PAYE taxpayers is being redesigned at present. Changes similar to those being made to the forms used by self-assessment taxpayers will be made in the PAYE form. The objective is for this to apply in respect of the 2004 tax year subject to the system redesign being completed. It will certainly be available in respect of the 2005 tax year. Given the normal time lag for PAYE taxpayers in making returns, it could be a year or so after the tax year before information is available.

On the corporate tax return, form CT1, information will be captured in respect of accounting periods ending after 31 December 2004 and will begin to become available nine months after that date, i.e., in September 2005.

The data on the cost of tax relief on superannuation contributions will be captured in the P35 form to be filed by employers in February 2006 and preliminary information should become available in mid-2006, bearing in mind the Revenue Commissioners have to carry out a programme to check the quality, consistency and accuracy of the returns.