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Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland

Hands up: Department of Finance to adjust figures after mixing-up €101m of VAT with income tax

The department say that the overall level of tax collected remains unchanged.

THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE has been forced to alter last month’s exchequer returns after €101 million was classified as VAT when it should have been classified as income tax.

The department was informed of the discrepancy by the Central Bank but say that the overall level of tax collected remains unchanged.

The figures were released last Friday and showed that overall tax revenues were down in march by €4 million year-on-year.

The Department of Finance, the Revenue Commissioners and the Central Bank are currently examining the mistake and a revised exchequer statement is expected to be published later.

Read: Ireland’s finances €3.6bn better than thought – due to accounting error >

Read: Here are the Merrill Lynch reports that underestimated the bank bailout by €47bn >

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37 Comments
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    Mute ollie
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    Apr 8th 2014, 11:33 AM

    Mistake my arse! VAT collected demonstrates how strong or weak the domestic economy is. By inflating VAT figures the govt gives the incorrect impression that things are better than they are.

    100 million is 5% of the original figure given for vat receipts, therefore the domestic economy is performing at 5% less than we were led to believe.

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    Mute Joe Simpson
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    Apr 8th 2014, 11:50 AM

    Yes but income tax shows on increase in wages or the workforce, showing an expansion in productivity in the domestic economy.Swings and roundabouts.

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    Mute ollie
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    Apr 8th 2014, 12:33 PM

    Joe, income tax is up €5 million. That’s probably due to increased salaries in the public service;
    if you take the tax paid on €34k for a single person (circa €7k) €5 million equates to an extra 3,000 jobs.
    So, the corrected figures are actually terrible.

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    Mute Joe Simpson
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    Apr 8th 2014, 12:51 PM

    Apparently it’s up over 100 million now with this adjustment so someones doing well.

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    Mute Ignoreland
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    Apr 8th 2014, 2:00 PM

    Increased salaries in the public service? Where have you you been the last 6 years? Have you not heard of the Croke Park agreement? What about the Haddington Road agreement only signed last year??

    33
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    Mute Mike O Neill
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    Apr 8th 2014, 11:55 AM

    They also mis-classified private bankers debt as sovereign debt!

    140
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    Mute me so harney
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    Apr 8th 2014, 12:12 PM

    It’s a common enough issue at the moment.

    The board of Rehab mixed up state funds to aid those with disabilities with their own personal cash.

    Alan Shatter mixed up being elected with being an incarnation of the Messiah.

    The Gardai mixed up legal with illegal.

    The list goes on …

    121
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    Mute Kerry Blake
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    Apr 8th 2014, 11:35 AM

    Who would have thought it another Cardiff in Finance. Good to know we have such experts managing our budget….

    97
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    Mute AndrewRedd3
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    Apr 8th 2014, 11:25 AM

    The money was just resting in my account

    92
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    Mute David McShite
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    Apr 8th 2014, 11:29 AM

    Accounting classification error with no money lost, no biggie.

    57
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    Mute Paul Roche
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    Apr 8th 2014, 11:31 AM

    Spin.
    Someone trying to “boost” commercial activity while playing down the contribution taxpayers make to the “recovery” of commercial activity…

    87
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    Mute Ignoreland
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    Apr 8th 2014, 2:02 PM

    Increased income tax revenue would show an increase in employment seeing as the rate of income tax hasn’t been increased in over 4 years. Why would the government not want to advertise that fact?
    Or maybe it was just a mistake?

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    Mute Eddie Binbags
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    Apr 8th 2014, 11:25 AM

    And the muppet show continues…..

    78
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    Mute kingstown
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    Apr 8th 2014, 11:36 AM

    And those Dof muppets get an ‘allowance’ for working in the dof! Priceless – only in ireland

    77
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    Mute Larry Smierciak
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    Apr 8th 2014, 11:35 AM

    And the incompetence continues.

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    Mute Margaret Flanagan
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    Apr 8th 2014, 12:37 PM

    Gombeens All.

    30
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    Mute RP McMurphy
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    Apr 8th 2014, 1:26 PM

    @margaret. Aah,Give them a break. They had nothing but beans to count for the last 4 years and now there is a few quid around! Let them get back into the swing and they’ll be fine! Otherwise sure we can ship them off to Brussels, the hiding place for fu@kups!

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    Mute Keith Grant
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    Apr 8th 2014, 12:09 PM

    Sad thing is that nothing surprises us anymore, I know we didn’t lose any money but for Christ sake if they can’t get the basics right then you have to worry

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    Mute Stevie Leslie
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    Apr 8th 2014, 11:30 AM

    Ah sure it only 101million, shrapnel

    53
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    Mute Paul Moran
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    Apr 8th 2014, 12:19 PM

    The last idiot who did this, Kevin Cardiff got a job in Brussels.

    52
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    Mute Straighttalker
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    Apr 8th 2014, 1:02 PM

    Shambles of a government

    35
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    Mute FedUpWithFools
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    Apr 8th 2014, 1:51 PM

    Please remind me how much we pay these so called professional officials ?

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    Mute dave mike dolan
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    Apr 8th 2014, 11:36 AM

    Even the what can I be offended by today mob will struggle with this one…

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    Mute whynotme
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    Apr 8th 2014, 12:30 PM

    Mob rules ,so they say ! But really ,it’s the same difference ,isn’t it ? You being a successful entrepreneur ,can you explain to the rest of the uneducated mob , what does it mean ?

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    Mute Mary Kavanagh
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    Apr 8th 2014, 1:22 PM

    Piss ups and breweries spring to mind.

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    Mute Don Juan
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    Apr 8th 2014, 2:17 PM

    If an SME got their figures mixed up, Revenue wouldn’t be long about imposing fines and am audit.

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    Mute Ben Gunn
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    Apr 8th 2014, 11:58 AM

    At least someone is checking the figures. Correction within a week of the original publication is not bad.

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    Mute Darren Ennis
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    Apr 8th 2014, 9:21 PM

    Should NOT happen to begin with

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    Mute Jack Daniels
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    Apr 8th 2014, 2:03 PM

    The Muppet Show.

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    Mute Shay Bourke
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    Apr 8th 2014, 12:43 PM

    At least it was dealt with quickly and openly. It is an improvement.

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    Mute Nicole McCormack
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    Apr 8th 2014, 11:51 AM

    Same thing really ..

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    Mute me so harney
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    Apr 8th 2014, 12:22 PM

    Not really Nicole.

    17
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    Mute Sean Baylon
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    Apr 8th 2014, 4:20 PM

    “Oh, we mixed up income tax and VAT.. Oh how we laughed”..

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    Mute Darren Ennis
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    Apr 8th 2014, 9:18 PM

    Is the government even real in this country or is it a dream I’m in? What’s the story with these dipsos this isn’t the first time something like this has happened I don’t think. Great, the money is still there, but it’s the government and €101m, they should be on the ball!! Can’t wait till them muppets get booted out of power

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    Mute Pickart Solny
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    Apr 8th 2014, 3:06 PM

    We are all human (SF/IRA excluded) and can make mistakes.

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    Mute Darren Ennis
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    Apr 8th 2014, 9:22 PM

    Fool

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    Mute Donal O Neil
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    Apr 8th 2014, 2:56 PM

    It’s only small change rattling about in the coffers .

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