Tax defaulters pay out €22.6m

Just under €22.62m worth of tax settlements were paid to Revenue during the second quarter of the year; a rise of just over 10% on the preceding three months.

The latest quarterly tax defaulters list — published yesterday — also shows that the number of individual settlements totalled 136 in the three months to the end of June; 10 more than were published in the first list of the year.

Of the latest batch, 59 were for amounts exceeding €100,000 — of which seven topped €500,000. Four cases involved settlements of more than €1m.

Brendan O’Connor, a company director and landlord, with an address in Enniscorthy — settled for just over €1.2m in a case regarding under-declaration of income tax and Vat. Dublin-based landlords, Barry & Sons paid just over €1m after under-declaring for corporation tax and Carrick-on-Shannon-based furniture suppliers, the Orthopaedic Bed Company was charged €1.23m for under-declaring for income tax, Vat, PAYE and PRSI.

The largest single settlement concerned Co Meath- based building company, Midland Contractors.

The Kells-based firm, which is in liquidation, settled for nearly €2.18m, regarding the under-declaration of Vat.

In its commentary, regarding the second quarter list, Revenue said that of the overall 136 cases, four settlements — totalling €1.28m — related to its Single Premium Insurance Products Investigation cases.

Other settlements include the Commons Bar, Commons Road, Cork, trading as Kenroode Investments for €275,820.34. William Cashman, a turf accountant based in Douglas in Cork settled for €405,399. And Gerald Mackay, a publican based in Youghal settled for €275,820.34.

Revenue added that the published settlements only reflect “a portion” of all of its audits and investigations during the three months under review.

“Settlements are only published when the extensive voluntary disclosure options are not availed of and the default is as a result of careless or deliberate behaviour,” Revenue said.

Yesterday’s data showed that a total of 2,151 audit and investigations — together with 16,440 risk management interventions — were settled between the beginning of April and the end of June, resulting in a total yield of €127m.