Wealthy in €44m tax demands

A total of 82 wealthy individuals are facing a potential tax liability of €43.8m before interest and penalties.

This arises from an investigation by the Revenue Commissioners’ large cases division which identified a number of instances where taxpayers had structured their tax affairs in such a way that they had extracted large amounts of cash from profitable trading companies without paying any tax.

In a written Dáil reply to Fianna Fáil’s finance spokesperson Michael McGrath, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said the Revenue probe, dating from 2011, had identified 120 individuals who had extracted cash from their companies in this way. He said a circuit court decision last year regarding the tax treatment of the transfer of share rights from a company to its shareholders has upheld the Revenue’s view that income tax was due on these transactions. Mr Donohoe said that “82 cases remain open and the amount of tax at stake in these cases amounts to approximately €43.8m, based on the transfer of share rights valued at over €100m.”