Garda gets €12.4m tax demand

The Revenue Commissioners presented An Garda Síochána with a tax demand of €12.4 million in respect of its corporate liability for PAYE and PRSI on a range of allowances, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said today.

The allowances are paid to gardaí alongside salaries cover items such as boot, uniform, plain clothes and detective allowances.

Mr Shatter also told a Dáil committee that ageing Garda vehicles - some of which have more than 300,000km on the clock - pose safety and insurance issues for gardaí.

Addressing the Dáil Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality this afternoon, Mr Shatter said the cost of running the Garda had been traditionally underestimated by his department. For example, he said, the cost of running the Garda vehicle fleet is currently €24 million per year, but he said the figure provided in last year’s budget was just €12 million.

While he said some Garda cars with more than 300,000kms on the clock were “in good nick”, there was “an insurance risk even if the cars are well maintained”.

Mr Shatter said the imperative was to ensure that cars were safe and that they fulfill the needs of the gardaí. He said funding was limited, however, adding: "I am going to look at that but I don’t know if you can resolve it."

The cost of the visit of Queen Elizabeth and US president Barack Obama was €36 million - a total the Minister said included payroll costs of €28.5 million, of which overtime accounted for almost €24 million.

He said travel and subsistence payments cost €3 million; specialist communications equipment and clothing €1.5 million; and other non-payroll expenditure of almost €3 million – covering a range of items from hire of barricades to the provision of catering facilities.

But Mr Shatter said there would be a substantial return to the exchequer of more in the payroll costs through taxation.

He also revealed the tax demand for Garda allowances – such as boot, uniform and detective allowances - would be a circular payment with the money “going back to the exchequer immediately, in the form of a payment to the Revenue Commissioners”.

Mr Shatter said the situation arose following a Revenue determination that the Garda allowances were taxable. From January next the gardaí will be taxed individually on the allowances, he said.