Almost €17m recouped in unpaid tax in last three months of 2015

Hotelier’s €2.3m tops list of individual payments

Revenue recouped nearly €17m in unpaid tax in the last three months of 2015, with a Galway-based hotelier’s €2.3m settlement topping the list of individual payments.

The latest quarterly tax defaulters’ list, published yesterday and covering the three months to the end of December, showed a 60% quarter-by-quarter increase in the number of settlement cases to 107 and €16.67m being paid after interest and penalty charges were added.

In the preceding quarter, 67 settlement cases were noted, which added up to a combined payment of €13.99m.

Topping the latest list is Colm Redmond.

He is listed as a company director of the Zetland Hotel in Cashel Bay, Connemara, Co Galway.

Mr Redmond’s initial tax bill came to just over €1.1m but interest of €863,558 and penalties of €332,342 brought his overall settlement to just over €2.3m.

His case related to under-declaration of income tax, Vat, and capital gains tax.

His was one of two cases that exceeded €1m; the other being Michael Holland, a building contractor in Durrow, Co Laois.

He settled for €1.7m in a revenue audit case after undeclared tax of €551,253 was added to with an interest payment of €735,718 and penalties totalling €413,439.

In all, 46 settlements were for amounts over €100,000, with four over €500,000.

Three of the 107 published settlements, yielding a combined €540,000, related to Revenue’s investigation into offshore assets/funds.

These related to Mary Sheehan, an airline steward from Midleton who settled for €189,096; Catherine O’Hanlon, a company director from Waterford who settled for just over €332,000, and Newbridge, Co Kildare-based window and door manufacturers PJ Bowes Ltd — which is in receivership — which settled to the tune of €19,523.

A total of 21 counties are represented on the latest list. Dublin accounts for the majority of cases, with 36 settlements noted. Cork and Galway each accounted for 10 cases.

Five were based in Co Louth, seven related to businesses in Co Wexford and five were in Co Tipperary. Two Kerry cases — cable distributor Electrotech and takeaway food supplier, Shahid Jamil of Tralee — were also listed.

Cork-based businesses accounted for around €1.65m of the overall near €17m total, with two of the county’s cases making the list of the 10 largest settlements.

In terms of occupations, a broad range from farmers, landlords and property developers to a costume and theatre designer and a former private members club operator, are included.