Revenue publishes list of tax defaulters

Today (12/09/2023), Revenue published the list of tax defaulters in respect of the period 1 April 2023 to 30 June 2023. 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 June 2023. 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 3 such cases in the 3-month period to 30 June 2023, with €293,207 being the total amount of the Court determined penalties.

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:

• 87 such cases are published and €198,715 is the total of court fines imposed.

These include:

• 47 cases of failure to lodge returns, delivery of incorrect returns, failure to remit VAT/Income Tax/PRSI, and falsely claiming VAT repayment(s). Court fines totalling €99,200 were imposed. Four sentences in lieu of imprisonment were imposed. All four are fully suspended, comprising terms of 2 years (3) and 1 year (1).
• 22 cases of misuse of marked mineral oil, in respect of which Court fines totalling €57,250 were imposed.
• 14 cases of excise offences for tobacco smuggling, illegal selling of tobacco and possession of untaxed tobacco for sale. Court fines totalling €36,000, and two five month sentences were imposed. One sentence comprises five months imprisonment; the other five month sentence is fully suspended in lieu of imprisonment.
• 2 cases of failure to hold a current liquor licence, in respect of which Court fines totalling €1,265 were imposed.
• 1 case of alcohol smuggling, in respect of which a Court fine of €2,500 was 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:

• 14 cases are published today and €3.7 million is the total settlement amount in these cases.
  
  • All 14 cases exceeded €100,000.
  • Of which, 1 case exceeded €500,000.
• 2 are cases in which the settlement was not fully paid as at 30 June 2023.
• €602,955 was the amount unpaid as at 30 June 2023. 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 Compliance Interventions. In the 3-month period to 30 June 2023, a total of 15,202 Revenue Compliance Interventions were settled resulting in a total yield of €198.57 million.

List of tax defaulters

ENDS [12/09/2023]