Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Finance if it is possible to ascertain the profits earned by foreign retailers operating here; and if he will distinguish between the element that remains here and that which is repatriated abroad. [14697/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the relevant information available is the total amount of gross trading profits returned by all companies trading in the retail sector and referenced under NACE Codes 4711 to 4799 and also code 4532. This includes retail sales of motor vehicles. The available information is derived from corporation tax returns for the year 2010, the latest year for which the necessary detailed information is available. The gross trading profits returned by companies with these NACE codes was €2.4 billion for 2010.

The sector identifier used on the tax records is based on the 4 digit “NACE code (Rev. 2)” which is an internationally recognised economic activity code system. The NACE codes are not essential for the assessment and collection of taxes and duties and the correct allocation and maintenance of these codes is subject to the limit of available resources. NACE code classifications on tax records are compiled by reference to the primary area of economic activity reported by individual and corporate taxpayers on their own behalf and the taxes collected are allocated to those codes without reference to the precise economic activity which generated them. While the accuracy of the NACE codes on tax records is sufficient to underpin broad sector-based analyses there will undoubtedly be some inaccuracies at individual level. This should be borne in mind when considering the information provided. The sector identified for this reply represents the closest equivalents in the NACE code system to the sector mentioned in the question.

I am also informed by the Revenue Commissioners that it is not currently possible to separately identify from their records the amount of these profits that relate to foreign owned companies nor to identify the amount of these profits that are repatriated abroad.

The CSO has recently broken down economic activity by foreign-owned multinational sectors and indigenous - . The threshold for inclusion in the foreign-owned category is if 85 per cent or more of the turnover for the sector is accounted for by foreign-owned multinationals. For Ireland this includes software, chemicals and some other sectors, but not retail.

On the issue of profits, it is assumed that foreign-owned retailers generally repatriate profits abroad. However in net terms some profits will remain in Ireland, to the extent that shareholders of these firms are Irish residents.