TDs warned over tax requirements

A DÁIL committee has written to TDs warning them of their tax compliance requirements.

The letter will serve as a timely reminder to politicians, given the tax difficulties being encountered by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

The Dáil Committee on Members’ Interests has issued the letter to TDs who are not office-holders — that is those who are not cabinet members or junior ministers.

The committee, which is chaired by Fianna Fáil TD Noel O’Flynn, oversees the compliance of these TDs with ethics legislation, and is empowered to investigate cases where contraventions may have occurred.

TDs must declare any interests they have outside of their Oireachtas salaries and expenses. This includes other income, directorships, shares, interests in land and property, contracts, or any gifts or gratuities they received.

The letter reminds TDs that they must make a return outlining these interests before the end of January.

It points out that equity-based Special Saving Incentive Accounts (SSIAs) are considered to be “managed funds” and that TDs are required to declare these.

It also reminds TDs that they have to furnish a statutory declaration and a tax clearance certificate in the coming weeks to the State’s ethics watchdog, the Standards in Public Office Commission.

The statutory declaration is a document in which the individual says he or she is tax compliant to the best of his or her belief.

The tax clearance certificate is a document from the Revenue Commissioners declaring that the individual is tax compliant.

The Taoiseach has conceded he will be unable to provide the Standards Commission with a tax clearance certificate as Revenue is still assessing his tax affairs from the 1990s.

Instead, he will furnish the commission with an application statement, which suffices to meet his obligations under the legislation. This is a document from Revenue stating that an individual has applied for a tax clearance certificate but that a decision has yet to be made on the application.