While the big item from the Revenue Commissioners last month was their Annual Report for 2009, supplementary information provided by the Revenue Chairman to the Public Accounts Committee may be of more interest technically to Chartered Accountants in tax practice.

The biggest element of the chairman's letter concerns capital allowances on buildings. It provides commentary on:

• The timing of allowances claims
• The various “purpose” tests and some of the implications of change of use
• Balancing events

Other items of information include analysis of the interaction between the Offshore Assets Investigation and the 1993 Amnesty. According to the chairman, 45 people had claimed the benefits of the 1993 Amnesty provisions. The benefits of the Amnesty were withdrawn in 13 of the 45 cases and the amounts paid under the amnesty were treated as payments on account against the full liabilities. “In the 13 cases the taxpayers settled their liabilities on the basis of full tax, statutory interest and 100% penalties for the pre-Amnesty periods and the provisions as regards publication as a tax defaulter were applied.”

For anyone who wonders what Revenue do with all those cigarettes they seize – “All such products are shredded on the State Warehouse premises under Revenue staff supervision. The shredded product is then removed for deep burial in landfill sites.”

The Revenue Chairman's letter to the PAC can be found at http://www.oireachtas.ie/documents/committees30thdail/pac/additional_documents/20100422-1.doc