A fuel and oil distributor and retailer has been warned that it faces a Revenue bill of €400,678 if it doesn’t repay Covid-19 supports of €100,169 without “unreasonable delay”.
This follows Tax Appeals Commissioner, Andrew Feighery upholding a Revenue Commissioners’ finding that the firm didn’t qualify for inclusion in the Covid Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS).
Mr Feighery ruled that the oil distribution company must now repay the €100,169 paid to the firm in error and failing this, Revenue is authorised to demand €400,678.80 from the fuel business - four times the amount paid out in error.
A company director told the Tax Appeals Commission (TAC) that he was required to refinance the business during the Covid period to keep the business afloat and to now ask for repayment of the sums paid to it could result in the forced decision of having to cease trading.
The firm applied for inclusion on the CRSS on November 5th 2020 and following initial enquiries from Revenue, the company was approved for registration on the scheme on November 17th 2020.
During the period, November 5th 2020 to June 22nd 2021, the firm received €100,169 in CRSS payments.
However, Revenue carried out a review and determined that in June 2021 the business was not eligible for inclusion in the scheme and demanded the return of the €100,169 and this was appealed to the TAC by the firm.
Revenue found that the oil distribution business did not qualify for CRSS as the business was considered an essential service and was not required to prohibit or significantly restrict members of the public from accessing their business premises and this was an essential requirement to qualify for payments under the CRSS.
Revenue requested repayment of monies and in response an agent for the oil distributor told Revenue that it was “unjust and unreasonable to expect my client to repay this amount when they were awarded the scheme and understood they were eligible after Revenue carried out their initial assessment at the point of registration”.
The agency stated that his client “simply does not have the resources to repay this back as they are already under severe financial strain”.
The agent told Revenue that although classified as an essential service, the business lost a substantial amount of business and continues to lose a substantial amount of trade due to the restrictions.
A director of the business told the TAC that the business was under severe financial strain owing not only to the loss of custom but also arising from stiff cross border competition, which it was particularly vulnerable to due to its geographic location.
In his ruling, Mr Feighery stated that the business should have been deemed ineligible for inclusion in the CRSS and should not have received any payment as the turnover of the business reduced as a consequence of Covid 19 and not as a result of “specific terms of the Covid restrictions announced by the Government”.
