CITY TRIBUNE
‘Shock’ tax bill for Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme
From the Galway City Tribune – Galway workers who benefited from the Government’s wage subsidy scheme in the first Covid-19 lockdown may still owe tax on this income.
But Revenue has confirmed that 80% of PAYE workers were either in balance, overpaid or underpaid by less than €200 for the tax year of 2020 when they benefited from the relief.
The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) was introduced by Government on March 24, 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Just over 37,000 employees in Galway City and County were in receipt of the payment as the businesses they worked for were closed or severely curtailed by the lockdown. It allowed employers to continue to pay wages to workers.
It was to last for 12 weeks but was extended until August 31, 2020, and cost the Exchequer €2.8 billion, before being replaced by a different scheme.
Revenue confirmed to the Galway City Tribune that as of May of this year, the total amount of ‘warehoused debt’ nationwide relating to TWSS was €53m. This means the debt was ‘parked’ but is still liable.
It said that TWSS payments were treated as income, and so were taxable, subject to Universal Social Charge and income tax. The TWSS payments were not taxed in ‘real-time’ but became liable at the end of 2020.
This was “due to the need to get critical cash supports in the shortest timeframe possible to impacted employers and employees”.
Revenue said that it gave an End of Year Statement to all employees in January 2021, which detailed whether they owed tax on the wage subsidy income earned.
“Over 80% of PAYE taxpayers had a preliminary end of year tax position for 2020 that was either balanced, overpaid or underpaid by less than €200,” a spokesperson said.
PAYE taxpayers can finalise their tax position for 2020 by completing an income tax return. Revenue said that any liabilities can be offset against tax credits due, such as from qualifying medical expenses.
“Where the taxpayer does not opt to fully or partially pay, Revenue will collect the liability by reducing their tax credits over years, interest free, from January 2022,” a spokesperson said.
Revenue said it would collect any tax owing, interest free, over four-years, which “equates to a collection of €1 extra in tax per week for those with an underpayment of €200”.
A Galway City Tribune reader who attempted to claim medical expenses was shocked to learn that she had a liability of €1,800 from unpaid income tax earned from the TWSS.
Revenue would not comment on individual cases but said: “An individual’s tax liability for any given tax year depends on a number of factors, including their personal circumstances, the expenses incurred by them for which a tax credit or relief may be available and the amount of tax they paid throughout the year.”
Statisticss on the number of workers in Galway who have a TWSS tax bill outstanding, and the total amount they owe, are not available.
Meanwhile, Revenue confirmed its public office at Fairgreen remains closed to the public. Only its Dublin office is open to the public, where Revenue is trialling an in-person appointments service.
“We continue to provide a full range of online services for taxpayers to manage their tax affairs, which for the most part removes any requirement to access public offices. For customers that are not comfortable with using online services, we provide an extensive telephone service, in addition to a full service for queries being received through the postal system,” it said.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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