Revenue publishes list of tax defaulters

Today (06/12/2022), Revenue published the List of Tax Defaulters in respect of the period 1 July 2022 to 30 September 2022. 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 30 September 2022. Unpaid amounts are subject to Revenue’s normal debt collection and enforcement procedures.

Part 1: Court Determinations

Court Determination of Penalty

Subject to certain criteria, in settlement cases wherethere 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 (where the total amount of tax only exceeds €50,000) and a qualifying disclosure has not been made:

• There were no such cases in the 3 month period to 30 September 2022 

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.

• 61 such cases are published and €168,000 is the total of court fines imposed

These include:

• 29 cases of failure to file a tax return and delivering an incorrect tax return, in respect of which Court fines totalling €94,250 were imposed
• 13 cases of misuse of marked mineral oil and 2 cases of failure to hold a current oil licence, in respect of which Court fines totalling €39,000 were imposed
• 13 cases of excise offences for tobacco smuggling, illegal selling of tobacco and possession of untaxed tobacco for sale. Court fines totalling €25,750, one 8 month sentence (with 4 months suspended) and one 2 month sentence were imposed
• 2 cases of failing to keep a vehicle stationary, in respect of which Court fines totalling €5,000 were imposed
• 2 cases of obstruction of a Revenue Officer, in respect of which Court fines totalling €4,000 and one 6 month sentence (suspended for 2 years) 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:

• 9 cases are published today and €2.8 million is the total settlement amount in these cases. 
• 7 cases were for amounts exceeding €100,000
  • of which 2 exceeded €500,000
  • and of which 1 exceeded €1 million
  • 4 are cases in which the settlement was not fully paid as at 30 September 2022 
  • €1.4 million was the amount unpaid as at 30 September 2022. Revenue vigorously pursues collection/enforcement of unpaid settlements. In some cases, collection/recovery of the full unpaid amount will not be possible (e.g.: company liquidation).

Revenue Compliance Yield

These published settlements reflect only a portion of all Revenue audits and investigations. In the 3 month period to 30 September 2022 a total of 255 Revenue audit and investigations, together with 3,180 Risk Management Interventions (Aspect Queries and Profile Interviews), were settled, resulting in a yield of €81.8 million in tax, interest, and penalties.

List of Tax Defaulters

ENDS [06/12/2022]