Revenue Commissioners’ tax debt seizures fall

The rate of monies obtained by the Revenue Commissioners through attachment orders from defaulting taxpayers has slowed down this year compared with 2013 and 2012.

New figures provided by Finance Minister Michael Noonan show that a total of €11 million has been generated arising from 1,972 separate referrals for attachment orders from defaulters in the first five months of this year.

This compares with €28.62m received arising from 4,199 separate referrals in 2013 and €28.5m obtained from 4,039 referrals in 2012. The value of attachment orders to the end of May in 2014 totals €65.2m and this compares to a value of €173.5m in 2013 and €178.4m in 2012.

In a written Dáil response toFianna Fáil’s Dara Calleary, Mr Noonan said: “I am advised by Revenue that the debt collection environment continues to be challenging given the ongoing difficult financial environment.”

Revenue can remove funds from defaulting taxpayers’ bank accounts through an attachment order and, in the list provided, the minister confirmed that the highest amount of attachment order monies, at €2.25m, was received in the Dublin City area through 360 referrals for the first five months of this year.

The Dublin City area also accounted for the highest value of referrals this year at €15m.

In 2013, the Dublin city and county areas generated €11m for Revenue from 1,452 attachment order referrals, accounting for 38% of the payments received nationwide.

This compares with 20 attachment order referrals secured for Leitrim that generated €28,269. To date this year, four attachment order referrals in Leitrim have realised €566.

Outside Dublin city and county areas, Limerick and Cork are the only other counties where Revenue has secured in excess of €1m from attachment orders this year. The figures show that €1.3m has been secured from Cork city and county, with Limerick city and county providing €1m.

In his response, Mr Noonan said: “Revenue is always conscious that the use of attachment orders can have adverse consequences for taxpayers and the power is normally only deployed where other enforcement options have failed to secure the outstanding debt. For example, during 2013, Revenue issued attachment orders in fewer than 3,000 cases out of a total of almost 27,000 cases enforced.”

Mr Noonan said: “Where a business or taxpayer fails to meaningfully engage with Revenue, then I am fully supportive of the deployment of the necessary collection and enforcement measures.” He said: “Revenue has confirmed to me that it never deploys its enforcement powers, including Attachment, without giving the taxpayer every opportunity to engage and agree mutually acceptable solutions, including phased payment arrangements. Revenue also has strict guidelines in place, including authorisation at a senior level, to ensure attachment is only used in appropriate circumstances.”