Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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166. To ask the Minister for Finance the way staff at the Revenue Commissioners are allocated, including the numbers devoted to the large cases division and offshore investigations; and if there has been an increase in resources in those areas in light of the Swiss Leaks, LuxLeaks and Panama papers revelations. [22051/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Revenue that they review business and staff resource requirements in all business areas on an on-going basis as part of workforce planning.  This is an iterative process that looks to identify and address critical posts that may require to be filled in the future and to match structures and resources to strategies and emerging risks.

There are currently a total of 233.40 whole time equivalent staff assigned to Revenue's Large Cases Division.

The allocation of resources to Large Cases Division (LCD) has been increased to provide for the establishment of a dedicated Transfer Pricing team of highly qualified tax, accounting and legal professionals who have been recruited from open competitions at Principal, Assistant Principal and Administrative Officer levels.  Increased resources were also provided to LCD to establish an additional dedicated Anti Avoidance team which had in 2015 a particular focus on examining the Irish connections with the LuxLeaks papers.

Large Cases Division deals with the case management of the largest cases, including Multi-National Corporations. In addition, a second tier of larger cases are dealt with by other Divisions.

As regards offshore avoidance and evasion, I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that Revenue has been to the forefront in acting against the use of offshore accounts, trusts and structures to evade tax liabilities and Revenue's approach has set the model for much of the work undertaken by other tax administrations in this area.

Revenue's investigations in that regard, have to date resulted in the recovery of €2.8 billion in tax, interest and penalties. Of this sum, Revenue's Offshore Assets Group, whose remit is to investigate the use of offshore accounts to evade or avoid tax, accounts for €1.022m of that sum and the Group has, in the course of its work, made extensive use of the suite of powers available to Revenue.  The Revenue Offshore Assets Groups is part of Revenue's Investigation and Prosecution Division.  There are currently 151.80 staff in this Division.

As indicated in my response to Parliamentary Question 21233/16 of 12 July 2016, while historically, Revenue's efforts in this space were set against a backdrop of bank secrecy and lack of exchange of information between tax administrations, the international climate over the past decade has and continues to change fundamentally. Legislation has been enacted enabling a number of key initiatives for the sharing of information with overseas tax administrations. These include the OECD's Common Reporting Standard, involving over 100 jurisdictions, the EU's Directives on Administrative Cooperation and the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) initiative.

Most recently, revelations in early April 2016 by way of a set of leaked documents to the media from the files of the Panamanian-based law firm Mossack Fonseca have provided an unprecedented amount of information which has again focussed worldwide debate on offshore structures and how countries are going to respond. In that regard, Revenue is actively engaging with the OECD Joint International Taskforce on Shared Intelligence and Collaboration (JITSIC) Network to agree concrete actions that tax administrations can take in response to this information.

While effective cooperation between countries - as reflected in the offshore financial information that the various Automatic Exchange of Information agreements will provide - is essential in tackling this worldwide problem, it is both necessary and desirable that domestic legislation governing Revenue powers is kept under constant review to ensure that it continues to be fit for purpose. In that regard, any recommendations from Revenue for increased powers are carefully considered.  As indicated in my response to Parliamentary Question 10831/16 of 18 May 2016 discussions are ongoing between my officials and those in Revenue in relation to Revenue powers in the context of the next Finance Bill.

I have also indicated to the Chairman of Revenue that I am committed to supporting any new legislative changes that he feels are needed to tackle tax evasion using offshore structures or accounts.