KPMG tax partner retires at 54

CORK-BASED tax partner with KPMG Ian Young, 54, has announced he is to retire at the end of the month.

Mr Young has been with the company in Cork for 22 years.

He said the group encourages early retirement to “make room” for younger people coming through the organisation.

KPMG has a traineeship programme for graduates.

Mr Young said he had seen many changes to the tax system here during his time with KPMG. “The biggest one is the change in the whole system, which has shifted the onus of compliance from the Revenue to the individual taxpayer, who is now obliged to provide information on a self-assessment basis.

“From the Revenue’s perspective, this was quite a change because it freed up a lot of time previously spent on administrative issues for pursuing non-compliant taxpayers.”

Mr Young acknowledged that tax advisers ended up “taking up the slack” when this change occurred, because so few people were aware of the tax laws and of how to ensure they were compliant. He said the tax law is a “minefield” for the uninitiated.

“It became so complicated for the individual,” he said.

“We’ve seen with the bogus non-resident account holders what can happen. There are now over one thousand sections in the Taxes Act, and I would defy anyone to know all of them off by heart.

“It’s a nightmare for the innocent taxpayer abroad.”

Mr Young also said there was “no logic” to tax legislation. “It’s quite capricious and arbitrary.”