Revenue unable to collect €920m in tax debt due to appeals

Just under half of unpaid tax could not be collected because it was under appeal, according to the Revenue Commissioners, an Oireachtas committee was told on Thursday.

Some €2.3 billion in unpaid tax debt was due to the exchequer at the end of March last year, but Revenue chairman Niall Cody told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that 40 per cent of this, or €920 million, was with the Tax Appeals Commission, and therefore could not be collected by Revenue.

“The Tax Appeals Commission inherited a tax system that was not fit for purpose,” Mr Cody said.

PAC chairman Sean Fleming suggested that Revenue should carry out its own review of appeals in the first instance so that the commission does not have to deal with appeals that were not necessary.

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Mr Cody told the PAC that Revenue often visited sites where it believed someone was not paying tax. It made 5,201 visits last year, of which 2,186 were with other agencies such as the Workplace Relations Commission and An Garda Síochána.

Mr Cody said the Revenue office “works closely” with these agencies to identify tax evaders but it was not always easy. “There will be times that we arrive in the front gate and someone will go out the back.”

Mr Cody also told PAC that €250 million of unpaid tax was being written off every year.