Credit Unions Interest Reporting (Extension of Voluntary Disclosure Initiative)

Introduction

The Revenue Commissioners have extended their voluntary disclosure initiative for undisclosed income or funds held in banks and building societies to credit unions.

Taxpayers who had €100,000 or more in aggregate in credit union accounts (which included funds not previously declared for tax) at any time between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2008 have until 31 March 2010 next to make a voluntary disclosure under an initiative announced by the Revenue Commissioners.

Revenue emphasise that the focus is on money, which was undeclared for tax purposes and this current initiative will affect a relatively small number of taxpayers.

Persons who have tax issues relating to monies on deposit and who wish to avail of the opportunity to make a voluntary disclosure will receive the following benefits:

  • The penalty for underpaid tax will be substantially mitigated;
  • Their name and settlement amount will not be published by Revenue in the quarterly list of tax defaulters in Iris Oifigiúil;
  • Revenue will not initiate an investigation with a view to prosecution.

Taxpayers who are already under enquiry or who failed to disclose these accounts in a previous investigation are precluded from making a qualifying disclosure.

The deadline date for the submission of a full disclosure and payment of all due tax, interest and penalties is 31 March 2010.

FAQs

Q: I have €80,000 in a bank deposit account and €40,000 in a credit union account and owe tax on the money invested. Am I required to make a submission to Revenue or am I precluded, as I should have made a disclosure on 15 January 2009?

A: Yes, you should make a disclosure by 31 March 2010 and you are not precluded as the aggregate of €100,000 for deposits for the 15 January 2009 disclosure date excluded credit union accounts.

Q: I have in excess of €100,000 in bank deposit accounts and owe tax on this money. I was unaware of the disclosure initiative for 15 January 2009. Can I now avail of this extension and make a submission to Revenue?

A: While you are precluded from availing of the full benefits of the voluntary disclosure initiative you should still make a disclosure although taxpayers with undeclared liabilities associated with such accounts will face additional penalties and where the settlement exceeds €12,700 for periods up to 2004 or €30,000 for later periods they will be published in Irish Oifigúil. However, provided you are not currently under enquiry or investigation and if you make a disclosure by 31 March 2010 you will not be subject to a criminal investigation.

Q: I have €40,000 in a credit union account and I owe tax on the money deposited. Although it is less than the €100,000 limit should I make a submission to Revenue?

A: While you may not be precluded from making a disclosure in the future Revenue would recommend that you avail of this opportunity to pay any outstanding taxes and to regularise your tax affairs and pay any outstanding tax liabilities.

Back to Top

Reference Notes from Original Voluntary Disclosure Initiative 2009

Please follow the links below to review the pages of information from the original disclosure initiative in 2009;

Credit Union account holders with outstanding tax liabilities

The Revenue Commissioners are following the procedures and practices as outlined in the Code of Practice for Revenue Audit to determine the liabilities owing. The form IRP2 may be used when submitting a disclosure and payment.

The following links can be used to calculate certain tax liabilities:

Disclosure and Statement of Amounts Due (pdfForm IRP2 (PDF, 310 KB))

Consequences for Deposit account holders who Fail to Disclose and Pay a tax liability

Persons who have undeclared tax liabilities in relation to accounts which in aggregate held €100,000 or more at any time during the years from 2005 to 2008 and who fail to avail of this disclosure initiative are precluded from making a voluntary disclosure if a full payment and disclosure is not made on or before 31 March 2010.

Where follow-up enquiries identify taxpayers with undeclared liabilities associated with accounts which in aggregate held €100,000 or more at any time during the relevant years they will face additional penalties and where the settlement exceeds €12,700 for periods up to 2004 or €30,000 for later periods they will be published in Irish Oifigúil. They also may be subject to criminal investigation.

Further Information

A Revenue HELPLINE is available at;

01-647 4818, Monday - Friday.
8.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. (inclusive)

Enquiries may also be addressed to:

Office of the Revenue Commissioners,
Investigations & Prosecutions Division,
Underlying Tax Project (Interest Reporting),
4th Floor,1 Clanwilliam Court,
Lower Mount Street,
Dublin 2.

which may also be contacted at: utproject@revenue.ie

Fax number:
01 - 647 4821

(Adobe Acrobat Reader PDFExternal link)

Back to Top


Print this page