Farmers unaware of rights to claim VAT

THE Revenue Commissioners and farmers’ organisations have been accused of making no effort to inform farmers on how to collect huge amounts of unclaimed VAT.

“I suspect that the reason why more farmers do not make claims is a straightforward lack of awareness,” said Dermot O’Brien, president of the Irish Taxation Institute, during a recent meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service.

The matter was raised by Senator Terry Leyden of Fianna Fáil, who said he had highlighted VAT going unclaimed many years ago, when the figure involved amounted to some millions.