Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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122. To ask the Minister for Finance if officials of the Revenue Commissioners have visited a site (details supplied) in County Kildare to date in 2019; if so, the nature and-or reason for inspection; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35833/19]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Section 851A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 requires Revenue to uphold taxpayer confidentiality and prohibits the release of any information that could lead to the identification of taxpayers.

Revenue has however, assured me that it carries out a full range of risk-based interventions to combat all types of tax evasion and non-compliance. These interventions include visits to construction sites, many of which are conducted on a multi-agency basis with other Departments or Bodies, including the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP) and the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). The site visits are primarily focussed on identifying and rectifying bogus self-employment situations and ensuring the proper operation of the PAYE system, but will also investigate any other forms of tax non-compliance found to be in operation.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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123. To ask the Minister for Finance the efforts the Revenue Commissioners make to engage with subcontractors to ensure that they are reimbursed the relevant contract tax and to resolve related filing issues; and the amount of tax which has not been retuned in each of the years 2005 to 2018 and to date in 2019. [35952/19]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Revenue that extensive efforts are made to engage with sub-contractors (and their agents) to ensure that the Relevant Contracts Tax (RCT) system is operated correctly. 

Since 1 January 2012, all RCT payment and return filing activity is conducted online using the Revenue Online Service (ROS). The online facility provides sub-contractors with access to a range of reporting facilities, which enables them to view the contract payments made to them in any specified period and any related RCT withheld. Also, sub-contractors who have fiduciary tax liabilities as employers and/or who are registered for and required to deduct VAT, can offset any RCT withheld against those liabilities, provided they have filed the relevant tax returns. 

Revenue also advises me that sub-contractors’ annual tax returns (Form 11 or CT1) are pre-populated with the gross payments received, and the RCT withheld for the year. Additionally, the ‘Summary Pay and File Liability’ screen of the ROS annual return provides sub-contractors with the amount of RCT credit that is available for offset against either the balance of tax for that year or against the preliminary tax due for the following year. After the offsets are completed, any remaining credit is automatically refunded to the sub-contractor, providing all other tax returns are filed.

To ensure a high level of timely compliance across the self-employed sector, Revenue issues ‘pay and file’ reminders to all customers, including sub-contractors, to ensure they prepare for and file their tax returns on time. Also, in addition to making all RCT information available to sub-contractors through ROS, Revenue provides additional support via the Revenue website and through secure email channels and telephone services. These services responded to almost 80,000 requests for assistance from sub-contractors (or their agents) in 2018.

The following table sets out the amounts of RCT paid to Revenue by principal contractors and subsequently either offset or repaid to sub-contractors for the years 2007 to 2019 (year to date). 

The data for 2005 and 2006 cannot be provided as the IT systems at that time did not provide a breakdown between offsets and refunds.