Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

586. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 515 of 1 March 2022, if she will clarify the definition of chargeable period; if she will commit to a further rectification in respect of those that were misclassified; and if and persons are only being compensated for a total of four years. [14064/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am advised by Revenue that a chargeable period is defined in section 959A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (TCA) as an accounting period for a company or a tax year for an individual and other taxpayer types.  A tax year is the same as the calendar year, i.e., from 1 January to 31 December.

I am further advised that section 865 of the TCA provides a general right to repayment of tax where a person has paid an amount which is not due.  However, subsection 865(4) states that the right is subject to the making of a claim within four years after the end of the chargeable period to which the claim relates.  This statutory limit is binding on Revenue as well as on taxpayers.  Many determinations of the Tax Appeals Commission, covering a variety of circumstances, confirm that Revenue has no discretion in the application of the four-year rule for claiming repayments.

Section 38A of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (as amended), introduced from 1 January 2010, provides that an application for the return of contributions shall be made within four years of the last day of the contribution year in respect of which the contributions were paid.  It is in line with the Revenue time limit for the refund of tax as outlined above and as is the case with respect to refunds of tax, there is no discretion within the governing legislation to allow contributions to be returned outside of this time limit.

The current provisions with respect to the return of contributions seek to achieve the necessary balance between establishing a fair and uniform system for contributors while protecting the Social Insurance Fund from exposure to claims for the return of contributions going back many years. 

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.