Report to the Committee on Members' Interests of Seanad Éireann

Appendix 6 ..... Letter to Senators re. Tax Clearance requirements

25 July 2002

Name
Address

Standards in Public Office Act, 2001

Tax Clearance Certification

Dear Senator,

I am directed by the Standards in Public Office Commission ("Standards Commission") to refer to the above provision of the Standards in Public Office Act, 2001 ("Standards Act").

As a person who has been elected to Seanad Éireann following the Seanad General Election of July 2002, section 21 of the Standards Act requires that, within 9 months of the date of your election, you will provide the following documents to the Standards Commission :

• a Tax Clearance Certificate issued to you, 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 your election.
  
  [The application form for a Tax Clearance Certificate under the Standards Act is available from the Office of the Collector-General, Sarsfield House, Francis Street, Limerick. (locall: 1890 20 30 70; fax: 061 410866; email: cg@revenue.ie) or from the Standards Commission (tel: 01 6395666; fax: 01 6395684; email: sipo@ombudsman.gov.ie). It should be noted that the Standards Act requires a specific tax clearance certificate - a tax clearance certificate issued under other tax clearance provisions is not valid for the purposes of the Standards Act.]
  
  or
• in circumstances where the Collector-General has not yet decided whether to issue or refuse a Tax Clearance Certificate to you, or where a Tax Clearance Certificate has been refused and that refusal is the subject of an appeal which has not yet been determined, an Application Statement issued to you, on application, by the Collector-General, not more than 9 months before, and not more than 9 months after, the date of your election.

Regardless of whether you are providing a Tax Clearance Certificate or an Application Statement, it must be accompanied by a Statutory Declaration that your tax affairs are in order, made by you not more than one month before, and not more than one month after, the date of your election (see format for the declaration enclosed with this letter).

Please note that the Statutory Declaration must be made not more than one month before, and not more than one month after, the date of your election even though the time limit for its provision to the Standards Commission is 9 months after the date of your election.

You will also note that:

• Where a Senator does not provide the documents described above within the time limits specified, the Standards Commission will investigate the matter and will draw up a report of the result of the investigation. That investigation report will be provided to the Committee on Members' Interests of Seanad Éireann (the Committee) who will cause copies to be laid before Seanad Éireann.
• Where the Collector-General has issued an Application Statement to you but subsequently decides to refuse your application for a Tax Clearance Certificate, the Collector-General will notify the Standards Commission of such refusal, once any appeal in relation to the refusal has been heard or the time period for such appeal has expired. The Standards Commission will then draw up a report on the matter and furnish it, together with the notification from the Collector-General, to the Committee who shall cause a copy of the report and the notification to be laid before Seanad Éireann.
• The requirement to provide the documents does not cease with a contravention (i.e. the non-provision, within the prescribed time limits, of the Tax Clearance Certificate or Application Statement and Statutory Declaration). A Senator continues to be obliged to provide the documents as soon as possible and, in such circumstances, the Tax Clearance Certificate must be provided within one month of having been received from the Collector-General and the Statutory Declaration must be provided within one month of its making. Additionally, where a contravention by a Senator has occurred and the tax clearance documentation continues to be outstanding, the Standards Commission will specify the non-compliance in its next annual report and, if the person is a Senator at the time, will also notify the Committee.
• Equally, where a Senator, subsequent to a contravention, complies fully with the requirement, the Standards Commission will notify the Committee who will cause copies of the notification to be laid before Seanad Éireann.

If you have already furnished the required documents as outlined above, please regard this letter as being for information purposes only.

I can be contacted in connection with this matter at (01) 6395678 or (087) 7786446.

Yours sincerely,

Marie O'Brien
Commission Secretariat

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