€82m less recovered from audits

There was a 20% drop in the number of audits carried out by the Revenue Commissioners in 2012, resulting in €81.5m less being recovered from audits, as the number of Revenue staff fell by 200.

The Revenue Commissioners carried out 11,066 audits in 2011 but its annual report for 2012, published yesterday, showed that only 9,066 audits were carried out, leading to a 22% fall in the amount of money audits reaped for the tax man.

Despite falls in the number of audits, Revenue actually managed to increase the amount of total tax collected through other investigations.