Irish Companies Still Hold €708 Million in Warehoused Debt Five Years Post-Pandemic

Irish companies still hold €708 million in warehoused debt five years after the pandemic, according to Revenue's latest annual report. At the end of 2025, there were 18,653 phased payment arrangements covering almost €1 billion in debt, with €708 million specifically from the Debt Warehouse Scheme.

The Debt Warehouse Scheme, introduced in 2020, allowed businesses to defer tax. Revenue noted that €251 million of the warehoused debt was deemed uncollectable due to liquidations and bankruptcies, while €32 million is subject to collection.

The report also detailed corporation tax (CT) payments for 2025, totaling €32.9 billion (excluding the Apple tax case), a 17 per cent increase from the previous year. Foreign-owned multinationals paid €28.8 billion (87 per cent), Irish-owned multinationals paid €1.8 billion (5 per cent), and domestic companies contributed €2.4 billion. The top 10 companies accounted for 56 per cent of net CT receipts.

In 2025, Revenue completed 237,550 audit and compliance interventions, yielding €734 million, and 189 tax avoidance cases, yielding €41.7 million. Income tax was the largest tax-head at 34 per cent (€36.6 billion) of net tax receipts. The average annual gross pay per employee was €43,835, with the top decile earning 40 per cent of gross income and accounting for 59 per cent of income tax and 62 per cent of USC contributions.