Revenue audits yield an extra €591m in taxes during 2024

New figures reveal there were 311,000 audit and compliance interventions last year, 256 tax avoidance cases settled, and 20 criminal convictions for serious tax evasion and fraud

Exchequer returns showed €107bn was taken in taxes and duties last year. Picture: Laura Hutton/RollingNews.ie

The Revenue Commissioners completed 311,000 audit and compliance interventions during 2024 which generated €591m in payments to the Exchequer, new data shows.

This comes following the publication of the Exchequer returns on Monday, which showed €107bn was taken in taxes and duties last year.

While Revenue noted that timely compliance rates remained strong across all taxes, there were 256 tax avoidance cases settled, yielding €46m, and 20 criminal convictions for serious tax evasion and fraud.

There were also 74 tax settlements published in the list of tax defaulters.

On the debt warehousing scheme, which ended on May 1, Revenue said during 2024 €3bn of the €3.2bn included in the scheme has now either been settled or secured through a payment plan.

Revenue said: “Just over 7,000 businesses that availed of the scheme failed to engage meaningfully with Revenue to address their warehoused debt ahead of the key deadline of May 1, 2024, and were subsequently removed from the warehouse."

Revenue commissioner Ruth Kennedy said they continue to monitor those payment plans, with 97% of the arrangements being honoured.

Outstanding liabilities

Unpaid taxes of €1.8bn remain available for collection outside of the warehousing scheme and Revenue’s debt management system is now fully deployed in dealing with these outstanding liabilities.

There were 57,000 referrals during 2024 to Revenue’s enforcement agents, resulting in the collection of almost €230m.

In terms of trade of illicit products, Revenue said their teams seized a record-breaking 112m cigarettes during the year, valued at €95m, while 64,000kg of drugs were also seized, with an estimated value of €215m.

Looking ahead into the first half of 2025, Revenue chairman Niall Cody said the deadline for payment of the 2025 local property tax is this Friday and any property owner who has not yet made arrangements to pay should take this opportunity to contact Revenue and ensure they have met their obligations.

“Where a property owner has opted to pay their 2025 LPT by annual debit instruction, the payment will be processed on March 21, 2025,” he said.