Revenue Publishes 2010 Annual Report
Josephine Feehily, Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, today (20/04/11) announced the publication of Revenue's annual report for 2010.
Speaking at the launch, Ms Feehily said:
"Last year our auditors carried out 11,008 audits resulting in a yield of €434.7 million. A total of 454,796 assurance checks, a less intrusive form of intervention, produced a yield of €58 million. Included in these audit and compliance programmes, are the results of very specific focus on "cash" businesses, for example:
- Construction: 2,226 audits yielded €61.2m.
- Motor Trade: 235 audits yielded €10.4m
- Hospitality - Pubs, Entertainment Venues, Nightclubs 295 audits yielded €7.2m
- Professionals - Doctors, Dentists, Vets, Solicitors: 328 audits yielded €9.4m
- Restaurants and Fast Food: 248 audits yielded €10.6m
…The biggest risk in the so-called shadow economy is suppression of sales and under-declaration of income and profits…Unlike the big problems of the country, everyone can do something about tax evasion, for example:
- Don't ask a tradesperson to give you a "cash" price, and put her in an awkward position
- Don't pay your service professional in cash if he asks, and make sure you get a receipt, ideally one that shows the VAT you have paid.
…Looking to this year and beyond…we will continue to work smarter by refining our systems, processes and information sources…this type of constant re-engineering of our assessment and collection processes has allowed us to minimise the impact of staff losses and budget reductions. Over the past 3 years our annual running costs have come down by nearly €95m…meaning that this year it is costing nearly 20% less than it did 3 years ago to run Revenue".
The most significant developments for Revenue in 2010 were:
- The rate of timely compliance held firm in 2010 across all case sizes (97% of the largest cases filed on time or nearly on time. For medium size cases the figure was 94%) - a significant achievement in light of the extremely challenging economic and financial environment in which businesses have been operating.
- Net receipts amounted to €31.92 billion, just over €0.7 billion (2.25%) ahead of the Budget estimate, but down €1.36 billion (4.1%) on the corresponding figure for 2009.
- Debt available for collection in 2010 was €1.389 billion, down €54 million (3.8%) on the 2009 figure. Debt available for collection as a percentage of total gross receipts was 2.92%.
- Total audit and assurance check activity yielded €492.7m from 465,804 interventions.
- The cumulative total from the major 'legacy' investigation projects reached €2.61 billion, with €24.16 million collected during 2010. The cumulative yield from the investigation into Trusts and Offshore structures reached €36.6 million.
- During 2010, Revenue made a request for information from a Treaty partner which provided us with details of accounts held in a bank in Switzerland by people with Irish addresses. While some had already made a disclosure under the 2004 offshore voluntary disclosure scheme, a small number of individuals have been identified with undeclared funds. This investigation is in its early stages and has yielded €2m to date.
- 178.4 million cigarettes and 3,367kg of tobacco, valued at €75.2 million and €1.2 million respectively, were seized.
- Drugs with a street value of €9.02 million were seized and €1.7 million of suspected criminal cash was detained at ports and airports.
- Revenue made over 33,000 automatic tax refunds to the value of €3.3 million in respect of the cost of prescription drugs.
- Since September 2010, the National Car Testing Service (NCTS) operates a range of vehicle registration functions on behalf of Revenue.
- Capital Acquisitions Tax and Vehicle Registration Tax administration and collection simplified and Carbon Tax was successfully implemented.
- Carbon tax was successfully introduced and VAT law was consolidated.
- For the fourth year running, Ireland was ranked the easiest country in Europe in which to pay business taxes according to a new report by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation.
- Revenue completed a PAYE Customer Service survey in 2010 with approximately 91% of respondents either 'very satisfied' or 'satisfied' with overall customer service delivery.
[Ends 20/04/11]