Cork tops the tax dodger league

CORK has more tax dodgers than any other county with Dublin and Kerry hot on its heels.

Dublin, with a population almost three times greater than Cork, had 21 tax defaulters named by the Revenue Commissioners yesterday, compared with 34 for Cork and 19 for Kerry.

In the three-month period to June 30, 2004, there were 242 settlements in excess of €12,700 which the Revenue published yesterday. It total, the State netted €37.30 million in settlements.

A county-by-county breakdown of the figures shows Cork leads the way but two counties, Offaly and Leitrim, did not have anyone named as a tax defaulter.

Taxpayers in Cavan and Carlow were also very compliant, with just one tax defaulter named and shamed in each county.

Cork also paid the most in unpaid tax, fines and penalties; handing over €8.9m to the tax man - 24% of the total take from all the counties.

Fermoy insurance broker Charles J McCarthy, with the second-highest ever published tax settlement, made up the bulk of this with his €6.4m contribution.

The 21 non-compliant taxpayers in Dublin handed over €4m to the state, while the 19 tax defaulters in Kerry paid €2.1m into the Exchequer in the three months to the end of June.

The published defaulters list comprises audit settlements where the Revenue Commissioners accepted a specified sum in excess of €12,700 in settlement of any additional liability for tax, interest and penalties instead of instituting proceedings for the recovery of the penalties and where:

A voluntary disclosure was not made by the taxpayer prior to the commencement of an audit.

The amount of fine or penalty included in the settlement exceeded 15% of the tax.

Along with the list of tax defaulters, the Revenue Commissioners also published details of 263 people who were fined in the courts for tax offences. Among those included in the list are people who failed to file various tax returns, have a publican’s licence, have an amusement machine licence, or have an auctioneer’s licence.

The names of convicted cigarette smugglers, oil smugglers and other fuel related offences were also published.

The full lists can be accessed online at www.revenue.ie.