Joint Oireachtas Committee publishes report following conclusion of pre-legislative scrutiny of the Finance (Tax Appeals and Fiscal Responsibility) Bill 2024

Last week, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Services Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach (“the Joint Committee”) published its report following the conclusion of the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Finance (Tax Appeals and Fiscal Responsibility) Bill 2024. The Institute gave evidence in March as part of this process where we expressed our unequivocal support for the right to elect for a private hearing at the Tax Appeals Commission (TAC). We also outlined our grave concerns that the proposals would risk undermining the spirit of voluntary compliance that underscores our entire self-assessment model. We were invited to give evidence following our earlier submission to the Joint Committee in December of last year.

The main recommendation of the Joint Committee to the Tánaiste (in his capacity as Minister of Finance) is to preserve the existing right of the taxpayer to request a private hearing at the TAC. In Section 2 of the report under the heading “Recommendations”, it states that the Joint Committee “strongly recommends that the Minister for Finance makes no change to the existing provisions in respect of public or private TAC hearings”. As part of this, the Joint Committee has also recommended assessing the degree to which the proposals would make the Irish tax system more punitive compared to our European peers.

The Joint Committee has also made a series of secondary recommendations, which include requests for further clarification on broader constitutional and procedural concerns should the Tánaiste progress the proposals in their current iteration. These secondary recommendations regarding the matter of taxpayer privacy are as follows:

• Significant clarifying detail should be provided in relation to the criteria which would determine when an Appeals Commissioner would grant a private hearing.
• The Department of Finance should explore how the default constitutional requirement for public hearings could be satisfied while also preserving taxpayer privacy.
• An alternative dispute resolution mechanism should be introduced which would precede recourse to the TAC.

The Joint Committee has also made additional recommendations in relation to the following matters:

• Addressing concerns around the publication of the appellants’ details and whether this is a proportionate interference with their privacy rights.
• Addressing the risk that determinations might disclose information which would be deemed private in other contexts.
• Introducing a requirement making it mandatory for evidence to be given under an oath or affirmation.
• Addressing concerns about the financial resources of the TAC,  when compared to appellants with substantially more financial resources.
• Mandating the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council to produce official fiscal forecasts and expanding their endorsement function to policy costings.

The Institute will continue engaging with government and other stakeholders throughout the summer as this matter continues to progress through the Oireachtas.