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Money Money Money

Revenue Commissioners to be questioned about financial statements

The Public Accounts Committee will be questioning the head of Revenue today.

THE REVENUE COMMISSIONERS will face questioning today over its financial statements.

The Public Accounts Committee, which has oversight for how Government agencies spend and manage their finances and which is generally seen as one of the strongest Oireachtas committees, will meet Revenue Chair Josephine Feehily at 10am.

The committee will discuss the parts of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s annual report which deal with how Revenue accounts for its money.

Committee chair Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness said issues about staff at Revenue are also likely to come up.

“Staff numbers at the Revenue Commissioners and whether it has sufficient staff to meet its obligations, how much each member of audit staff yields and the skill set in Revenue are likely to feature at [the]  meeting,” he said.

Around 700 Revenue staff are employed in debt collection and compliance roles.

The amount of money collected by Revenue for the Exchequer has dropped by a massive 28 per cent between 2007 and 2010 as the economic crisis took hold,  but increased by €1 billion in 2011 with the introduction of the Universal Social Charge.

The committee is likely to ask whether revenue receipts are on target for 2013. The controversial property tax and Revenue’s role as the collection agent is also likely to be raised.

The committee will meet from 10am today in Committee Room 1 in Leinster House and will be streamed live here on the Oireachtas website.

Read: Revenue to use mapping directory to value homes for property tax >

Read: Almost 2,500 convictions for tax and excise offences in 2012 >

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