Vat and PAYE penalties need ‘urgent reform’

Revenue penalties for incorrect tax returns are too severe, incentives for entrepreneurship are much less attractive than other EU countries and the cost of living is too high, business groups have told the Oireachtas Business Committee.

Business organisations such as the Irish Tax Institute, Chambers Ireland, the Irish SME Association (Isme) and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) appeared before TDs and senators to state their case to make doing business easier.

The Tax Institute’s tax policy director Cora O’Brien said that while Revenue penalising tax return mistakes was justified, the rate of penalties was not.