Offshore assets deadline extended

THE Revenue Commissioners has extended the deadline to anyone who had undisclosed offshore assets to come forward and make a voluntary settlement.

As part of its latest trawl of tax evaders, the Revenue had set a deadline of this Friday for anyone held bogus accounts or offshore trusts to come forward and make a settlement.

Yesterday the Revenue said it had extended the deadline for submission of final computations and payments for the offshore assets investigation to June 10.

“This is in response to requests from tax practitioners, accountants and other interested parties who have requested more time to allow them to finalise the liabilities of their clients,” it said in a statement yesterday.

However, the extension is available only to anyone who contacted Revenue before the deadline of March 29 last to declare that they had a tax liability related to a previously undisclosed account or investment outside the State.

After that the Revenue will use its full powers to track down and prosecute the remaining evaders.

Tens of thousands of letters were sent out by the 10 main financial institutions to their customers and it is believed that over 10,000 people have come forward to make a settlement.

After that, the Revenue’s Offshore Assets Group (OAG) will use new powers to compel banks to open up their books and track down the remaining tax evaders

While the Revenue has never disclosed how much it expects to take in from this latest trawl, one source estimated that the figure could go close to €1 billion.

To date, the Revenue has collected €606 million in settlements from individuals who held bogus non-resident accounts, while close to €300 million has been taken from other Revenue investigations into tax evasion schemes.

Last year the Revenue investigated customers of the Bank of Ireland Jersey Trust company.

A trawl of its customers saw 254 people come forward and make a voluntary settlement, which netted Revenue €105 million in interest, tax and penalties, an average of €400,000 each, although one individual did make a €7 million settlement.