COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

south dublin county council crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, April 12, 2010

MOTION NO.3

MOTION: Councillor C. Brophy

That this Council opposes any increase in Bin Charges this year and asks the Manager to ensure that any increase in bin charges caused by Vat changes are not passed onto the householders.

REPORT:

Section 111 of the Finance Bill 2010 provides that public bodies be brought within the scope of VAT with effect from 1 July 2010.  The Bill must be enacted and this section commenced before the VAT changes can be implemented.   

Circular Fin 022010 letter from DOEHLG outlines the approach advised for the Local Government sector.  The actions can be summarised as follows:

  1. identify services where competition with private sector service providers could occur
  2. agree these services and applicable VAT rates with the Revenue Commissioners
  3. review the implications of these decisions
  4. ensure IT systems, general ledger procedures and service providers can apply VAT once legislation is commenced
  5. ensure procedures are in place to prepare and submit VAT returns once appropriate

At present South Dublin is working in conjunction with the DOEHLG, the Local Government sector and the Revenue Commissioners to identify the services that will attract VAT and to agree the appropriate rate of VAT for each such service.  A detailed list of services provided by local authorities was recently sent to the Revenue Commissioners by the DOEHLG for consideration.  South Dublin will be in a position to examine the implications for services once the Revenue Commissioners have recommended appropriate VAT treatment for each of the items on the list and has agreed an acceptable approach for the VAT costs associated with support services and accordingly indirectly affect the income earning services.  At that time a decision on how exactly VAT will be applied will be made.

In relation to any potential increase on the cost of collection to customers there are a number of factors to be considered.  The introduction of the new system has now removed the use of fraudulent tags from the market, the pattern of presentation of waste is likely to alter once the brown bins are introduced and the outcome of discussions on reorganisation of collection arrangements will all impact on any charge that will be applied and at present it would be premature to say how the price will be affected.