Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 69: To ask the Minister for Finance the number of taxpayers in receipt of a Department of Social Protection pension who are due refunds and the amount of money to be refunded; and his views on whether all taxpayers in this category are made aware that they may be due outstanding overpayments. [22441/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that approximately 20,000 taxpayers were originally notified by letter in January 2012 that they might have a potential refund of tax due for 2011, and that Revenue would automatically carry out a review. This process could not begin until the pay and tax deducted details in respect of 2011 were submitted by employers on the annual P35 form and processed by Revenue. Of these, the tax affairs of some 12,000 taxpayers have already been reviewed. To date, I am further advised that some €2million has already been refunded to approximately 7,000 taxpayers and in the rest of these cases no refund of tax was actually due. A further programme of reviews will be run over the coming weeks for the remaining 8,000 taxpayers, once all of the information required by the Commissioners to carry out these reviews is available. In this regard, the 2011 form P35s are still awaited in some cases or are currently being processed in other cases.

I am further advised by the Revenue Commissioners that they have taken a number of steps to inform potential refund recipients. Firstly, as indicated earlier, any taxpayer who was potentially over-taxed on their DSP pension received a letter in late December 2011 explaining that Revenue would be reviewing their tax affairs for 2011 with a view to making any relevant refund for that year. Secondly, Revenue has, through its contacts with representative bodies acting for the elderly, continued to reinforce the message that anyone who feels that they may be due a refund should contact the Commissioners directly. Thirdly, Revenue has published extensive frequently asked questions on its website on the taxation of DSP pensions and addresses the issue of potential refunds within that. Taking all of these measures into account, as well as the direct contacts that Revenue staff has with DSP pension recipients through handling telephone contacts and public office visits and the extent of the publicity on the matter of pensioners and tax, I am satisfied that anyone who may be due a refund is aware of the steps they need to take to make a claim.