Revenue audits accrue €550m last year

Nearly €550m was collected last year via company audits and compliance checks by the Revenue Commissioners — over 11% more than was the case in 2012.

Of that amount, just over €28m was yielded from retailers and almost €36m from over 1,000 audits of construction firms. In its latest annual report published yesterday Revenue reported a total tax take of just under €37.9bn for 2013 — a rise of 3.3% on the previous year. Some 8,000 company audits yielded €312m, around 45,000 PAYE compliance checks brought in €30m and other interventions and assurance checks yielded over €200m.

With regard to the household charge — for which Revenue assumed responsibility for collecting arrears last summer — €7.6m has been collected, covering 39,227 properties. Revenue said that the bulk of that figure has been paid since the end of March. It added that it is preparing to write to as many as 250,000 property owners it believes haven’t paid the charge as yet.