Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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To ask the Minister for Finance the number of persons who declare themselves to be non-resident for tax purposes in Ireland on their tax forms; the amount of tax these persons are currently paying; the amount of these being monitored by Revenue due to being considered high-worth persons; and the nature of this monitoring. [45867/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that for the tax year 2010, the latest year for which figures are available, the number of persons who have filed tax returns indicating that they are non-resident for tax purposes is 10,781 and that the amount of income tax due per those returns was approximately €49 million. It is important to note that the circumstances of individuals who are non-resident for tax purposes but who file tax returns can vary widely. They include, for example, Irish nationals who have moved abroad for work reasons but who retain their home here (their tax return is generally only in respect of rental income on their Irish home); foreign nationals who never resided here but who have investments (including property) here; foreign nationals who worked here for a period and who may have acquired Irish tax residence for that period (for example, individuals who worked here on a temporary assignment) may retain an Irish tax liability, after ceasing to be resident, in respect of investments made in Ireland during their period of residence. The number of non-resident individuals that are considered by Revenue to be high wealth individuals is currently 54.

I am further advised by the Revenue Commissions that monitoring tax residence of high Wealth individuals is part of its risk-based programmes and that the procedures adopted in validating the tax returns of such individuals depend on the circumstances of each case and include a range of checks together with an intelligence-based dimension. For operational reasons, the nature of these checks and intelligence gathering is not publicised.