To act as a collector and remitter of certain taxes on behalf of the Revenue Commissioners
When you set up a business in Ireland, you are required by law to act as a collector and remitter of certain taxes on behalf of the Revenue Commissioners, such as VAT charged to customers or PAYE/PRSI withheld from employees’ wages, and any other taxes relevant to your business.
This role comes with no payment or employment status from the government
You receive no wage or compensation for carrying out these administrative duties on behalf of the government. You are not employed by the State, so what exactly are you under our Constitution?
It appears you are simply someone to be used and abused, merely because you want to set up a business and earn a living for yourself and your family.
If you fail to properly collect, account for, or remit these taxes, you or your company/directors, can face enforcement actions, including prosecution.
This is not because the government is “employing” you without pay, but because Irish law imposes specific statutory obligations on businesses and individuals as part of the self-assessment tax system.
What’s more than that, you have to employ and pay your own accountancy firm to keep your books in order or become a tax expert for your own business.
Legal Framework:
The core legal framework is set out in Ireland’s primary tax legislation, particularly the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (as amended), along with related acts such as the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010 and regulations governing payroll taxes e.g., Income Tax Employments Regulations.
This law effectively turns you and your business into an unpaid tax collector for the Irish Government. In every sense of the word, you have become a tax collector, with no right to refuse the role and no compensation whatsoever for the substantial time it takes out of your life to calculate, collect, and return these taxes.
What exactly is your status under this law?
So, what is the legal position regarding your civil and human rights in this situation? You are being forced by law to act as an unpaid tax collector for the Irish Government.
You have no right to refuse and no compensation for the time involved, even though if you employ someone to do the most menial task you must pay minimum wage, plus taxes. But still you are not entitled to even minimum wage for your hours worked collecting taxes for the Irish government.
Not only are you working for free, but this obligation is also costing you money by diverting your time and attention away from your core business.
The key question is therefore: Are you considered a government employee or not? If not, what is your legal status? And on what legal basis can the government prosecute you if you refuse to collect and remit these taxes? What exactly is your status as a person under this law?
Was this law illegal in its introduction, did it breach a person’s human and civil rights?
The Core Issue: Uncompensated Burden
- You collect VAT, PAYE, USC, employee PRSI, and other withholdings (RCT, DWT, etc.) at your own expense.
- You must handle, real-time reporting, detailed record-keeping often 6+ years, software, accountant fees, and the risk of penalties/interest for even honest mistakes.
- Revenue gets efficient, no cost collection. You get zero reward, no compensation, and often cash-flow pressure e.g., paying VAT before customers pay you. The people working in Revenue are already paid government employees. They’re not the ones forced to show up, spend hours going through accounts and paperwork, and receive zero compensation for their time.
Studies and surveys show small businesses can spend dozens to hundreds of hours per year on tax admin alone.
If you make a mistake or file late, you face interest (0.0274% per day for VAT/PAYE) and fixed penalties up to €4,000 per offense.
People have been threatened with court and business closure if they are late returning these taxes.
Used and Abused
So why is this still allowed to continue? It really feels like people are being used and abused. When you consider the recent fuel price protests and the Irish government’s reckless squandering of public money, the whole situation amounts to nothing short of outright abuse.
Imagine this
You open a business in Ireland selling fuel and you then realize that anything up to 60% or 65% of your daily takings you have, must now be send on to the Irish government. By law you have now become a force tax collector, forced to collect and send tax collected to the Irish Government, to squander as they see fit.
