PAC to hear Revenue collected €127 billion in 2023

Revenue collected €127 billion last year, preliminary figures indicate, the Public Accounts Committee will hear tomorrow.

Niall Cody, Revenue Chairman, will say that this gross figure includes “€26bn on non-Exchequer receipts collected on behalf of other Government departments and agencies”.

“Preliminary net Exchequer receipts collected were €87.2bn, some €4.8bn – or almost 6% – more than in 2022,” he will say, citing a figure announced by the Department of Finance in recent weeks.

Mr Cody will also reveal that the proportion of home owners paying the Local Property Tax (LPT) fell last year.

“The payment compliance rates for LPT for 2022 and 2023 are 97% and 95% respectively,” Mr Cody’s opening statement says.

He notes that a “new structure for LPT came into effect from 2022”, and says that “the majority of property owners make reasonable and honest efforts to value their properties”.

The Comptroller and Auditor General will point to total LPT receipts of €500m in 2022.

“This included arrears of tax of €51m,” Seamus McCarthy will say.

Mr Cody will “shortly issue detailed guidance” on the implications of a Supreme Court judgement in October on “classifying an individual’s employment status for income tax purposes”.

The Supreme Court ruled that delivery drivers for a pizza take-away should be treated as employees, and not independent contractors.

“The judgement brings welcome clarity and provides a decision-making framework to assist businesses correctly classify workers between those who are employed or self-employed,” he will tell the committee.

“Revenue will shortly issue detailed guidance to explain the implications of the judgement for tax purposes and is working closely with colleagues in the Department of Social Protection and the Workplace Relations Commission to update the joint Code of Practice on Determining Employment Status.”