Annual Report 2002

Evidence of Compliance with Tax Acts

With effect from 10 December 2001, the Standards Act introduced a requirement whereby members of the Dáil and Seanad, members of the judiciary and holders of "senior office" ("senior office" means a designated position or directorship in a public body prescribed under the 1995 Act, including the civil service, in relation to which the remuneration is not less than the lowest remuneration for a Deputy Secretary General in the civil service), must provide evidence of compliance with the following tax legislation within a fixed period of being elected or nominated or appointed, as the case may be:

(a) the Tax Acts
(b) the Capital Acquisitions Tax Act, 1976 and the enactments amending or extending that Act,
(c) the Capital Gains Tax Acts and
(d) the Value-Added Tax Act, 1972 and the enactments amending or extending that Act.

Evidence of tax compliance in the case of members of the Houses and appointees to "senior office" is provided to the Standards Commission within nine months of election or nomination or appointment, as the case may be. In relation to the judiciary, the evidence is provided to the Judicial Appointments Board or the Secretary General to the Government, as appropriate.

The documents required as evidence of tax compliance consist of the following:

1) a Tax Clearance Certificate, issued by the Collector-General of the Revenue Commissioners (Collector-General), not more than 9 months before, and not more than 9 months after, the date of election or nomination or appointment, as appropriate, or

1A) an Application Statement, issued by the Collector-General, on application, not more than 9 months before, and not more than 9 months after, the date of election or nomination or appointment, as appropriate, in circumstances where the Collector-General has not decided whether to issue or refuse a Tax Clearance Certificate, or where a Tax Clearance Certificate has been refused and that refusal is the subject of an appeal which has not yet been determined, and

2) a Statutory Declaration, which is an instrument prescribed by the Statutory Declarations Act, 1938, as amended by the Standards Act to the extent that the penalty for false declarations has been increased to a maximum fine of
€2,500 and/or imprisonment for up to 6 months, attesting to compliance with the tax clearance certification provisions of the Standards Act. The Statutory Declaration must be made not more than one month before, and not more than one month after, the date of election or nomination or appointment, as appropriate.

The non-provision of any of the tax compliance documentation within the nine month time limit, or the failure to make the Statutory Declaration within the two month time frame, causes a contravention of the Standards Act which leads to investigation by the Standards Commission. Following investigation, the Standards Commission draws up a report in writing which is provided to the relevant Committee on Members' Interests, in the case of a member of a House of the Oireachtas, and to the head of the body concerned, in the case of an appointee to "senior office".

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