Tax advisors to the MIDOC GP co-op say the cost of HSE-funded out-of-hours services will increase by 40 per cent if the Revenue Commissioners wins the case on the tax treatment of locums.
“One wing of the Government will have to fund the other, where failure to do so will undermine the success of out-of-hours services,” a statement from the advisors said.
MIDOC will contest a ruling, made by Revenue and upheld by the Appeals Commissioners, in the Circuit Court later this year that co-ops must deduct PAYE from locums. It is Revenue’s position that locums be treated as employees for tax purposes.
The co-op’s advisors said Revenue had ‘gone to war’ with locums by writing to GPs saying they were liable for PAYE and refusing to register locums as self-employed.
They claim Revenue told GPs it was raising PAYE tax back over four years on GPs not involved in the case, but would settle for two years if they immediately agreed to the PAYE treatment of locums.
The advisors were also critical of a Revenue briefing document from December, referring to a group of doctors operating a local out-of-hours service. It stated it was Revenue’s experience to date in cases that such doctors were employees, despite the fact the case has not been resolved.
The tax advisors’ statement said it was a ‘dangerous development’ that the briefing document was not a Revenue Code of Practice. “It appears to be a partnership as in the Social Partnership Code. Many practitioners believe that this is politicisation of Revenue, who should not be driven by one sector of society and where under law they are exclusively obliged to act under the Taxes Acts as passed by Dáil Eireann.”
The appeal is expected to be heard in April.
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