A trickle of businesses has begun to make arrangements with Revenue to repay warehoused Covid taxes following a campaign targeting big debtors.
At the end of September, 2,130 businesses had agreed payment arrangements for €113 million of warehoused debt, while other businesses fully paid their liabilities and exited the scheme.
“To reduce their interest bill, some businesses have already begun to repay their warehoused debt where their financial circumstances permit, as is evident in the overall reduction in the warehouse balance,” said a Revenue spokeswoman.
However, just shy of 59,000 companies still owe nearly €1.9 billion in back taxes accumulated during the pandemic, when Revenue suspended the collection of corporation tax, VAT and employer’s PRSI for qualifying businesses.
Now tax officials are making preparations to recover the debts, which have been accumulating interest at a reduced rate of 3 per cent since January for most firms still in the warehouse.
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In July, Revenue began a targeted outreach campaign to those who owe more than €50,000. That group of 5,700 taxpayers owes €1.6 billion in aggregate, while two thirds of debtors owe less than €5,000 each.
Joe Howley, Revenue’s collector general, said those small debts would be swept up automatically out of tax refunds after the May 1, 2024 deadline for companies that do not set up a phased payment arrangement.
