Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 119: To ask the Minister for Finance the number of occasions in respect of which the Revenue Commissioners have acted in tax arrears cases with businesses here in respect of each of the past five years; the number of incidents in which the Revenue Commissioners decided to act by referral to sheriff and its consequences, by referral to solicitor for legal involvement and its consequences and cases of implementation of power of attachment and its consequences; the amount so recovered in each case; if the businesses involved were in a position to continue trading; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41694/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that their primary goal is to ensure that all taxpayers meet their tax and customs obligations in a timely manner. A delay in collection of the revenues due impacts on the level and timeliness of financial resources available to the Government and facilitates those who, by withholding tax payments and using those monies to improve cash flow, gain unfair competitive advantage.

I am advised by Revenue that their approach to maintaining and extending high levels of timely compliance involves a twin track approach. Firstly there is a strong focus by Revenue on promoting and supporting voluntary compliance by facilitating taxpayers and businesses in meeting their obligations in as easy a way as possible through quality service provided by Revenue. Secondly there is a strong focus on addressing late or non-compliance through the deployment of appropriate collection recovery and enforcement measures.

I am advised by Revenue that the records it maintains do not enable it to provide figures on the number of occasions in respect of which it has acted in tax arrears cases with businesses in each of the past five years. However, the following table contains details of the number of enforcement actions involving referral to sheriffs or solicitors or putting in place of Attachment Orders by Revenue for each of the last five years. Other than providing details of the amount of monies collected as a result of these actions, Revenue is not in a position to comment on the individual case outcomes, even at an aggregate level. However, I am satisfied that the focused, risk based debt and compliance management programmes being implemented by Revenue has been a key element in delivering the very significant improvements in compliances rates that have been achieved in recent years.