Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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462. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide in tabular form the total amount spent per annum in 2011, 2012, 2013 and to date in 2014 on staff subsistence payments, staff taxi payments; if his Department has been audited for tax compliance on these payments and other benefits in kind; if these processes have been revised in view of concerns by the Revenue Commissioners over practices in other State bodies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25814/14]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Expenditure on staff subsistence and taxis for my Department in the past four years is set out in the following table.

It is my Department’s policy that only essential business travel is undertaken and that the number of staff absent on official business is kept to an absolute minimum.

It is also the policy that taxis should only be used where no suitable public transport is available. Staff are asked to ensure that where use is made of a taxi, business requirements make it demonstrably necessary to do so; for example because the number of officers travelling make it cheaper than other forms of public transport, and/or that other forms of public transport would be impractical. Additional travel associated with Ireland’s Presidency of the EU in 2013 and preparation for it in 2012 would account for increased subsistence and taxi expenditure in those years. Staff claiming the costs of taxi journeys must submit the relevant receipts with their travel and subsistence claims.

My Department was selected by Revenue on 4 June 2009 for an audit of VAT, PAYE, PRSI and RCT (Relevant Contracts Tax) covering the period 1 January 2008 to 31 May 2009. Revenue advised on 13 November 2009 that the audit was concluded and that no further liability arises. The Department has not been audited by Revenue since. Practices and procedures in respect of these areas will, if necessary, be amended in light of any further guidance received from the Revenue Commissioners in this regard.