Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 135: To ask the Minister for Finance the number of licensed premises that were audited for tax compliance annually since 2006; the number found to be non-compliant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31308/11]

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 licensed premises 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 - 314 - €11.5m [ 210 yielding/67%]

2008 - 327 - €11.5m [ 242 yielding/74%]

2009 - 307 - €15.7m [230 yielding/75%]

2010 - 285 - €7.6m [207 yielding/73%]

2011 (to August) - 194 - €4.7m. [143 yielding/74%].

Yielding cases includes cases where there was no cash yield but reliefs and losses were restricted. The proportion of yielding cases is in line with Revenue's risk based audit programme.

These statistics are compiled based on cases with a NACE Code of 5540. NACE Code 5540 is a classification that encompasses licensed bars, licensed premises and licensed vintners. The above statistics do not include audits carried out on hotels, restaurants and off-licences.

I am further advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the operators of licensed premises are controlled and monitored for tax compliance purposes in the same way as taxpayers in all other sectors. Operators of licensed premises, 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 licensed premises 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 operators of licensed premises.