Taxman nets €17m from pubs, bosses and farmers

FARMERS, company directors and publicans are the biggest tax dodgers in the country, according to the latest list of defaulters published by the Revenue Commissioners.

Making up 45% of the total take by the taxman, they paid a total of €16,699,256 in unpaid tax, fines and penalties. Overall, €37.3 million was taken from defaulters, whose names were published yesterday. All the settlements were made with the Revenue in April, May and June of this year.

The list shows that Fermoy insurance broker Charles J McCarthy made the second-highest ever published settlement. He paid €6.4m to the Revenue - €3,902,903 in penalties and interest and €2,497,097 in underdeclared income tax, capital acquisitions tax and PAYE/PRSI. Mr McCarthy also held a bogus non-resident account.

Showband singer Big Tom McBride of Formil, Drumacrib, Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, paid €100,000 - €25,000 in underpaid tax and €75,000 in interest and penalties.

Donegal-based priest Hugh Sweeney, of Cloghan, Lifford, made a settlement of €125,792 - €85,444 in interest and penalties and €40,348 in undeclared income tax.

Mr McBride and Fr Sweeney both had bogus non-resident accounts.

The published settlements cover only a fraction of the Revenue Commissioner’s audits and investigations finalised in the three-month period to June 30. The total yield was €120.38m.

On top of the 242 published cases, there were 606 settlements in excess of €12,700 that were not published but which brought in €78.13m. These were not published because most of them made voluntary declarations to the Revenue.

There were a further 2,741 audits which resulted in payments of €4.95m to the Exchequer. There were also 180 published settlements totalling €29.10m which related to bogus non-resident accounts.

There were five settlements totalling €1.26m connected to Ansbacher account holders. There were also eight settlements totalling €660,000 related to Revenue investigations into offshore funds and two settlements totalling €300,000 connected to investigations into the NIB.