Revenue publishes list of tax defaulters

Today (08/03/2022), Revenue published the list of tax defaulters in respect of the period 1 October 2021 to 31 December 2021. The list is published in Iris Oifigiúil, in two parts.

• Part 1: Persons in whose case the Court has determined a penalty relating to a settlement, or has imposed a fine, imprisonment or other penalty in respect of a tax or duty offence.
• Part 2: Persons in whose case Revenue has accepted a settlement offer instead of initiating court proceedings, or a settlement has been paid in full. This list reflects the amount of a settlement that remained unpaid at the end of the period 31 December 2021.

Part 1: Court Determinations

• Court Determination of Penalty: Subject to certain criteria, in settlement cases where there is no agreement to a penalty, or a person fails to pay an agreed penalty, the Court determines the penalty. Details are published when the Court determined penalty exceeds 15% of the total tax and the total of the tax, interest and penalty is more than €35,000 and a qualifying disclosure has not been made: 

• There was 1 such case in the 3-month period to 31 December 2021 with €21,879.29 being the Court determined penalty.
• 68 such cases are published and €131,350 is the total of court fines imposed.

• Court imposed fine, imprisonment or other penalty: Details are published when a fine or other Court penalty is imposed in respect of tax or duty offences. Court penalties may include imprisonment, partly suspended or suspended sentences, community service in lieu of imprisonment, and closure orders.

These include:

• 26 cases relating to failing to lodge tax returns, failing to remit VAT, failing to keep proper books and records, delivery of incorrect returns and fraudulent evasion of CGT. Court fines totalling €37,050, two 2-year sentences (both fully suspended on condition) and two 18-month sentences (both suspended for 12 months) were imposed;
• 19 cases of misuse of marked mineral oil in respect of which Court fines totalling €50,300 were imposed;
• 22 cases of excise offences for tobacco smuggling, illegal selling of tobacco and possession of untaxed tobacco for sale. Court fines totalling €42,750, one 5-month sentence, one 16-month sentence, one 18-month sentence (all fully suspended on condition) and 240.5 hours of community service, in lieu of imprisonment, were imposed;
• 1 case of obstruction of a Revenue officer, in respect of which Court fines totalling €1,250 were imposed.

Part 2: Settlements

Settlements are published when the extensive voluntary disclosure options are not availed of and the default arises because of careless or deliberate behaviour:

• 23 cases are published today and €2.8 million is the total settlement amount in these cases; 
• 8 cases were for amounts exceeding €100,000
  • of which 1 exceeded €500,000
• 3 are cases in which the settlement was not fully paid as at 31 December 2021; 
• €159,723.37 was the amount unpaid as at 31 December 2021. In some cases, collection/recovery of the full unpaid amount will not be possible (for example, company liquidation).

Revenue Compliance Yield

These published settlements reflect only a portion of all Revenue audits and investigations. 

In the 3-month period to 31 December 2021 a total of 384 Revenue audit and investigations, together with 14,214 Risk Management Interventions (Aspect Queries and Profile Interviews), were settled, resulting in a yield of just over €1.015 billion in tax, interest, and penalties. 

List of Tax Defaulters

ENDS [08/03/2022]