Irish companies are carrying more than €700 million in warehoused debt five years after pandemic, according to the Revenue Commissioners' latest annual report.
The tax authority said there were 18,653 phased payment arrangements in place at the end of 2025, covering debt of almost €1 billion.
This included €708 million of debt included in the Debt Warehouse Scheme.
The scheme was introduced at the height of the pandemic in 2020 to provide liquidity support for struggling businesses, allowing them defer tax until their financial position improved.
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Revenue said “the vast majority of businesses” with phased payment arrangements in place were honouring their monthly commitments.
It noted, however, that €251 million of the debt included in the warehouse scheme at its peak “was deemed uncollectable for reasons such as liquidation, examinership and bankruptcy, while €32 million is subject to debt collection”.
As part of its report, the Revenue also published an analysis of corporation tax (CT) payments which indicated that foreign-owned multinationals paid €28.8 billion or 87 per cent of CT receipts last year while Irish-owned multinationals paid €1.8 billion (5 per cent).
The remaining €2.4 billion came from non-multinational (domestic) companies.
Excluding the Apple tax case, CT receipts totalled €32.9 billion last year, an increase of 17 per cent on the previous year.
The top 10 companies accounted for 56 per cent of net CT receipts in 2025.
The effective tax rate for all companies in 2024 was 9.9 per cent. For foreign-owned multinationals it was 10 per cent, while for Irish-owned multinationals it was 8.5 per cent.
The report also indicated that landlords and company directors accounted for nearly half the individuals listed as tax defaulters by the agency last year.
Tax settlements amounting to €34.1 million, including about €13.9 million in interest and penalties, in respect of 110 taxpayers were agreed and published in 2025.
Revenue said it completed 237,550 audit and compliance interventions, yielding €734 million in 2025. There were 189 other tax cases, yielding €41.7 million.
The report also indicated that income tax was the largest tax-head, representing 34 per cent (€36.6 billion) of net tax receipts in 2025.
Irish nationals made up the largest proportion of employees at 74 per cent followed by Indian nationals (3 per cent), Polish (3 per cent) and British (2 per cent).
The report also indicated that the average annual gross pay per employee was €43,835.
It also noted that the incidence of income tax and USC contributions was “highly progressive” with the top decile accounting for 59 per cent of income tax and 62 per cent of USC contributions in 2025.
