Seán Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)
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Question 133: To ask the Minister for Finance the estimate of the net VAT paid by the building and construction sectors for each of the years 2003 to 2006; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10225/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that estimates of the amounts of internal VAT paid by taxpayers in the building and construction industry in the years 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, after allowing for repayments and not including VAT on imports, are as follows.

The sector identifier used on the tax records is based on the 4 digit "NACE code (Rev. 1)" which is an internationally recognised economic activity code system. While the accuracy of the NACE codes on tax records is sufficient to underpin broad sector-based analyses there will undoubtedly be some inaccuracies at individual level which should be borne in mind when considering the above data.

In addition, the figure provided for the estimated gross yield from the construction industry does not include the yield from activities and businesses in other economic sectors which are closely linked to the construction sector. An example of these would be architecture, engineering and real estate activities. VAT is levied on taxable activities (i.e. provision of goods and services) and accordingly the yield from a VAT liable activity such as construction, can be spread over more than one NACE code grouping.

The figures given for the years 2003, 2004 and 2005 are upward revisions of figures provided by the Revenue Commissioners in previous correspondence. The revisions were brought about by the updating of tax records, such as amending NACE codes, having a retrospective effect on historical figures for tax yields.