Revenue publishes list of tax defaulters

Today (07/03/2023), Revenue published the list of tax defaulters in respect of the period 1 October 2022 to 31 December 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 31 December 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 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 (where the total amount of tax only exceeds €50,000) and a qualifying disclosure has not been made:

• There were 3 such casesin the 3-month period to 31 December 2022, with fines totalling €1,417,218.

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:

• 86 such cases are published and €202,100 is the total of court fines imposed.

These include:

• 29 cases relating to failing to lodge tax returns, failing to produce proper books and records, and delivery of incorrect returns. Court fines totalling €71,250 were imposed
• 31 cases of misuse of marked mineral oil, in respect of which Court fines totalling €85,500 were imposed
• 25 cases of excise offences for tobacco smuggling, illegal selling of tobacco and possession of untaxed tobacco for sale. Court fines totalling €42,850, two 4-year sentences (fully suspended), two 2 years and 6 months sentences, one 20 day sentence, and 840 hours of community service, in lieu of imprisonment, were imposed
• 1 case of possession of untaxed alcohol for sale, in respect of which a Court fine of €2,500 was 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:

• 6 cases are published today and €1.1 million is the total settlement amount in these cases. 
  • Of which, 5 cases exceeded €100,000.
• 4 are cases in which the settlement was not fully paid as at 31 December 2022. 
• €528,874 was the amount unpaid as at 31 December 2022. Revenue vigorously pursues collection and, or enforcement of unpaid settlements. In some cases, collection and, or 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 Compliance Interventions. In the 3-month period to 31 December 2022 a total of 14,225 Revenue Compliance Interventions were settled resulting in a total yield of €127.36 million.

List of Tax Defaulters

ENDS [07/03/2023]