Revenue nets €500m in offshore account trawl

THE Revenue Commissioners received a staggering €500 million last month from its ongoing investigations into offshore accounts.

The latest windfall comes as AIB publish a report this morning into how it overcharged foreign exchange customers by an estimated €20m. Allegations of tax evasion by its own senior executives through an offshore investment vehicle may also be addressed.

Revenue Commissioners chairman Frank Daly disclosed yesterday the running total of its major investigations into offshore accounts stood at €1.5 billion, a rise of over half a billion euro since March 2004.

The settlements follow a trawl of 14,000 individuals who made voluntary disclosures on offshore trusts and accounts held with the 10 largest banks.

This group paid a total of €546m to Revenue this year before the final payment deadline of June 10. The average payment per person was €40,500 in tax, interest and penalties. However, that total may yet be increased by hundreds of millions of euro as Revenue begins to pursue tens of thousands of others who failed to disclose.

Mr Daly told the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee yesterday that, when Revenue launched its investigations, the banks wrote to over 100,000 customers. Theoretically, that means there could be more than 80,000 people who have not disclosed, though sources said the number will be lower.

Mr Daly told the committee that Revenue will now be seeking High Court orders to compel the banks to “identify the individuals who failed to make a voluntary disclosure”. He said that all 10 banks will be subject to the orders and that Revenue would first seek orders from the institutions which have the largest number of customers with offshore accounts or trusts.

The latest series of offshore inquiries by Revenue began last year when it looked into a Bank of Ireland-owned institution in Jersey and another in the Isle of Man, owned by Irish Life and Permanent. It then broadened the probe to all ten major Irish financial institutions. The running total from the inquiries includes €759m from bogus non-resident accounts; €51m from the NIB/Clerical Medical investigation; €43m from Ansbacher account holders; and €25m from follow-through audits from the Mahon and Moriarty Tribunals. It also includes an extra €3m paid by Anglo Irish Bank this week as a result of its re-audit of DIRT liabilities.

Labour’s enterprise spokesperson Brendan Howlin said last night that people’s trust in the banks had been shattered by the series of embarrassing revelations on bogus accounts, overcharging of customers, and offshore activities.