Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 41: To ask the Minister for Finance the number of general practitioner practices that were audited for tax compliance annually since 2007; the number found to be non-compliant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29222/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the number of audits carried out in relation to Medical Practice activities in each of the Years 2007 to 2011 (to August), and the related yield across all tax heads, business and personal, is as follows: 2007 - 99 - €2.69m [62 yielding/63%]

2008 - 89 - €2.54m [65 yielding/75%]

2009 - 87 - €3.59m [66 yielding/75%]*

2010 - 156 - €3.30m [113 yielding/72%]*

2011 (to August) - 146 - €3.24m. [104 yielding/71%]*.

*yielding cases in 2009 to 2011 includes cases where there was no cash yield but reliefs and losses were restricted.

The increased activity in 2011 reflects Revenue's focus on self-assessed taxpayers in the cash economy.

These statistics are compiled based on cases with a NACE Code of 8512. NACE Code 8512 is a classification that encompasses a broad range of practitioners and businesses in the medical sphere including doctors, consultants such as eye specialists, homoeopaths, physiologists etc.

I am further advised by the Revenue Commissioners that General Practitioners are controlled and monitored for tax compliance purposes in the same way as taxpayers in all other sectors. General Practitioners, like all taxpayers, are obliged to make accurate returns under the self-assessment system and are liable to Revenue audit in the normal way. I am assured by Revenue that the audit of General Practitioners is an ongoing aspect of their work.

The main focus of Revenue continues to be on selecting cases for intervention based on the presence of various risk indicators and other information available. This is the type of targeted intervention that gets best results and that is most likely to change the behaviour of the taxpayer into the future. The targeted approach is greatly enhanced by the computerised Risk Evaluation Analysis and Profiling System (REAP) developed by Revenue. This system categorises taxpayers in accordance with defined risk criteria. The system allows for the screening of all tax returns against sectoral and business norms and provides a selection basis for checks or audits. This effectively means that 100% of self-assessed taxpayers are risk assessed a number of times a year. REAP contains considerable information on all self-assessed taxpayers, including General Practitioners.