Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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66. To ask the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 127 of 6 May 2015, if his Department had any further communication with the Revenue Commissioners regarding the 5,300 Standard Life shareholders whose option to receive money from the sale of the business as a capital investment was not received in time due to postal delays; if he will issue an instruction to the Revenue Commissioners to grant an exemption to these persons from the tax liability they now incur through no fault of their own; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27803/15]

Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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69. To ask the Minister for Finance if he is aware that over 5,000 Standard Life Irish shareholders (details supplied) have been affected financially by the delayed delivery of post by nearly six weeks; what are his views on the issue; and if he can offer the affected persons any possible tax reduction, given that it was a serious failure in the postal services that has resulted in the financial loss to shareholders; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27860/15]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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75. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding shareholders of Standard Life; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27929/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 66, 69 and 75 together.

The UK company Standard Life plc, offered its shareholders the option of having return of value payments due to them treated as income or capital, with treatment as income being the default position in the absence of shareholders choosing an option within a specified time which has now elapsed.

The Revenue Commissioners have informed me that, from an Irish tax perspective, the position is that if the Standard Life return of value payment is received as income by an Irish resident taxpayer it will be taxed under Income Tax rules. If it is received as capital it will be taxed under the Capital Gains Tax rules. I am not in a position to instruct the Revenue Commissioners to apply a different treatment as suggested in the first question.

In last year's Finance Act, I included provisions allowing for a measure of tax relief to the many thousands of Irish shareholders with a small shareholding in Vodafone plc who inadvertently found themselves subject to an unintended liability to income tax, PRSI and USC rather than a nil capital gains tax liability arising from a return of value payment from that company. I did this because the shareholding of very many of those individuals arose originally from their investment in Eircom plc and, as a result of which investment, they continue to carry capital losses. I considered, given the particular background in that case, that to leave those shareholders with income tax and other liabilities on foot of a decision they inadvertently made or did not make at all would have been inequitable.  This particular background is not a feature of the Standard Life return of value case.

The fact that notifications of the options made by individuals in the Vodafone case last year were delayed in the post beyond the deadline date in that case or were otherwise not dealt with by the company as shareholders would have wished were not factors in my decision to provide the relief.

I am not in a position to say who or what is responsible for the problem that has arisen for the Irish shareholders in Standard Life plc. While I can understand the frustration of the shareholders, I do not think it an unreasonable point to make that the State should not be required to intervene by way of changing tax legislation on each occasion that a difficulty arises resulting from the administrative arrangements put in place by commercial public limited companies for dealing with their shareholders.

All that said, I will give careful consideration to the views and concerns expressed by the various Deputies, as well as those of others that have been expressed to me in this matter, in the course of my preparations for the forthcoming Finance Bill.