Black market costs State €10bn yearly

Ireland is losing out on around €10bn of Vat every year — enough to make up the budget deficit — mostly through fraud and people working on the black market.

The State collects less than half the estimated amount it should be getting, according to figures from the European Commission that says it’s time member states took effective action.

Finance ministers hope to agree tax evasion and tax fraud measures to be discussed by EU leaders at their meeting next week, and to give the Commission a mandate to negotiate a savings tax agreement with a number of non-EU countries, including Switzerland.