PAC makes recommendations to Revenue on ‘bogus self-employment’

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) published its report on the Examination of the 2019 Appropriation Account for Vote 9 – Office of the Revenue Commissioners, last Thursday, 24 June. The PAC has made recommendations on five issues, which includes a series of actions for Revenue to combat ‘bogus self-employment’.

The PAC recommendations within the report are:

1. For Revenue to include a detailed note that presents a breakdown of the individual taxes included within the excise duty category in Account of the Receipt of Revenue of the State collected by the Revenue Commissioners, commencing from the year ended 31 December 2021.
2. That for any future schemes that are rolled out as a matter of urgency, Revenue uses the lessons learned from the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) to reduce the potential for overpayments, and the timeframe for resolving same.
3. In relation to ‘bogus self-employments’, Revenue should:
   • increase site visits across all employment sectors to ensure a minimum of 4,000 visits per annum from 2022 with year-on-year increases thereafter;
   • publish statistics on site visits conducted, individuals interviewed, and the number of individuals reclassified as employees or newly registered for PAYE on an annual basis; and
   • work to bring forward legislation to replace the existing Code of Practice to provide stronger and more comprehensive definitions of employment and self-employment.
4. In relation to ‘bogus self-employment’ in the courier sector, for Revenue to conduct an independent investigation on the financial and sectoral implications of Revenue’s agreement with the courier sector in 1997. This investigation should include an examination into:
   • the magnitude of revenue lost to the State as a result of this practice;
   • the number of workers impacted by the agreement in the sector; and
   • the financial cost to those workers.

Within the PAC press release on the publication of the report, Deputy Brian Stanley, Cathaoirleach of PAC, said “Revenue acknowledged that some mistakes were made during the transitional phase of the TWSS and the Committee is concerned that the maximum weekly subsidy of €410 was paid out to each qualifying employer during the transitional phase of the scheme.”