Nearly 13,000 firms have been kicked out of Revenue’s tax debt warehouse scheme after failing to file tax returns or pay current liabilities on time.

Tax enforcement officials are now chasing the €197m they owe in back taxes accumulated during the pandemic.

New figures disclosed by the Finance Minister Michael McGrath show that 12,800 firms have had their access to the scheme revoked for not meeting its only requirement – to file and pay current taxes on time.

The businesses are now required to clear their back taxes immediately and could face fines and interest charges on any unpaid amounts, although the amount at stake is a small proportion of the €2.25bn left in the warehouse.

The current number is a 36pc increase on the 9,400 businesses in the same situation last October, when Revenue was telling warehouse participants to submit proposals for phased payment arrangements.

Since then, the repayment deadline has been pushed back from January 2023 to May 2024, meaning no businesses are in default as there is currently no obligation to pay.

However, 635 companies with €60m of previously warehoused debt have exited the scheme with uncollectible debt, according to Mr McGrath’s written response to a parliamentary question submitted by Sinn Féin TD Louise O’Reilly.

These firms had entered liquidation, examinership or bankruptcy, or had ceased trading.

Revenue has ramped up its debt collection this year after pausing certain enforcement activities during the pandemic.

Thousands of businesses have been referred to the sheriff this year following the roll-out of a new automated debt management system, which had been suspended during the Covid-19 crisis.

The new system can monitor all 1.35 million registered businesses simultaneously and significantly increases Revenue’s capacity for compliance and enforcement activities, according to Revenue’s annual report.

Revenue is allowing businesses back into the warehouse scheme once they address their compliance issues and bring their taxes up to date.

At the end of February, 338 revoked cases with €20m in debt had their warehouse status reinstated.

The total value of debt warehoused at the end of February 2023 was €2.25bn for 64,746 customers. Just over 6,600 of these customers have warehoused debt in excess of €50,000 and this cohort accounts for €1.93bn of the overall warehoused debt figure.