Revenue publishes Annual Report for 2006

Frank Daly, Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, today (29/05/07) announced the publication of Revenue's annual report for 2006.

The most significant developments for Revenue in 2006 were:

Another year of very strong tax collection performance. Net receipts amounted to €45.5 billion, some €6 billion above the corresponding figure for 2005 and €3.7 billion above the Budget estimate.
Special investigations yielded a total of €119.6 million in 2006 of which €88.3 million arose from the Single Premium Insurance Policy and Offshore Assets investigations. The cumulative total from special investigations currently stands at €2.3 billion. (Up to date details available on the Revenue website at Yield from various Revenue Investigations/Initiatives)
There were seven convictions for serious tax and duty evasion. A further 515 convictions were obtained for summary offences and there were 1,295 convictions for non-filing of tax returns.
Revenue continued the sectoral approach to audit. New projects initiated included the construction sector, publicans, computer consultants, coffee shops, restaurants and take-aways, hotels and rental income. The construction sector project alone yielded €125 million in tax, interest and penalties.
Total audit and assurance check activity yielded €691.8 million.
A range of on-line and telephony self-service options were provided for PAYE taxpayers. Our 2.2 million PAYE customers can now claim a wide range of tax credits, apply for repayments, request a tax review and change personal details - all on-line.
The Revenue On-Line Service (ROS) continued its strong growth in 2006. The number of payment transactions made via ROS increased by 40.48% to 408,575 while the value of the payments made via ROS increased by 37.19% to €16.6 billion.
Arrears as a percentage of total gross receipts now stand at an historic low of 1.8% - one of the lowest of any tax administration worldwide. Overall debt was €1,107 million in 2006.
Drugs with an estimated street value of €8.6 million were seized; tobacco with a value of almost €18.5 million and almost €725,000 of suspected criminal cash was detained by our Customs Service.

Speaking today, Mr Daly said:

"Our aim in Revenue has always been to encourage people to claim every relief and credit to which they are entitled. More than that we want to make it as easy as possible for them to do so - indeed we want to make it as easy as we can for anybody to do business with us. During 2006, following measures introduced in the Budget, we committed ourselves to a series of simplification measures to make the process of claiming reliefs as easy as possible."

Mr Daly added:

"Over the next couple of years we intend to redouble our efforts to reduce the regulatory burden and simplify procedures. It’s in all our interests to make the business of tax as simple as possible and Revenue will make this a key theme of our Statement of Strategy for 2008-2010."