Taxman battles to keep hold of €700m of disputed takings

THE taxman is fighting to retain more than €700million of money that big taxpayers say is theirs instead.

Officials from the Revenue Commissioners are fighting 17 cases with highpaying taxpayers over hefty sums, the Sunday Business Post said yesterday.

In one instance an individual is appealing a €19million bill for cash found in his home, claiming it was savings accumulated over several years and as such is not taxable income.

The cases, include 11 corporations, have been taken to the independent Tax Appeals Commission, which determine appeals against Revenue.

More than €606million of the disputed tax is corporation tax and three of the cases are for tax assessments of more than €100million. The largest dispute, €138million, involves a corporation appealing the disallowance of trading losses from their over tax bill. Another case involves Revenue’s refusal to allow €68million be deducted from a corporation tax bill as a result of professional fees incurred from a capital restructuring of the firm.

The Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee has been examining the work of the tax commission in recent weeks, with details emerging of lengthy delays in hearing cases and issuing rulings due to the volume of cases. It emerged at the PAC that the equivalent of just 14.5 staff are working on around 5,000 cases with substandard IT infrastructure and phones that are unable to make internal calls.

Public Accounts Committee chairman Seán Fleming described the issues at the tax appeals commission as ‘farcical’.

Last month a report by the Department of Finance recommended an overhaul of the tax rulings body in an attempt to speed up its work as well as increased budget, given the increased volume of work coming its way. This came after the chairman of the tax appeals body said it was not fit for purpose.