Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 1002

Deduction from payments due to defaulters of amounts due in relation to tax

Section 1002 authorises the Revenue Commissioners to recover unpaid tax from a defaulting taxpayer by directing a third party who owes money to the taxpayer to pay that money directly to Revenue instead.

• Revenue may issue a notice of attachment to any person (a relevant person or attachee) who owes a debt to a taxpayer in default, requiring that person to pay the debt, up to the specified amount, directly to Revenue within 10 days — the minimum debt threshold is €1,000 for a general attachment and €10,000 for attachment of wages or salary.
• The power extends to bank deposits (including the taxpayer's deemed equal share of a joint account) and to emoluments due under a contract of service (net of statutory deductions), but does not apply to disputed debts, solicitors' client account deposits, overdraft facilities, discretionary grants or amounts subject to a court order.
• The relevant person must file a return showing how much is owed to the taxpayer and, where an additional debt arises during the relevant period, must file further returns and make further payments until the specified amount is cleared or the notice expires.
• A notice of attachment may not be issued until the tax has been outstanding for at least 14 days (in wage or salary cases) or 7 days (in all other cases) after a final demand has been served, and the taxpayer's default must have persisted for at least one month (general cases) or six months (wage or salary cases).