Crime pays as only four tax evaders do time in 10 years

ONLY four people prosecuted for serious tax evasion by the Revenue Commissioners in the last decade have been jailed.

And only 34 criminal prosecutions for white-collar crime have been initiated against tax offenders since 1997.

These resulted in 38 convictions, which raised a total of €316,963 in fines - representing an average fine of €9,322 per prosecution.

The higher number of convictions compared to prosecutions is explained by the fact that a prosecution can involve one or more persons as well as corporate entities.

Although the prosecutions resulted in 13 custodial sentences, just four tax offenders were forced to spend time in jail.

The longest jail sentence imposed by the courts was a two-year sentence, which was reduced to 18 months upon appeal. All other cases involved terms of imprisonment - ranging from three to six months.

Last October, Dublin businessman Leslie Reynolds, 71, was sentenced to three months after he was forced to reach a €9.9m tax settlement. His company was also fined €15,000.

The Revenue figures were contained in a recent written reply to a parliamentary question from Labour TD Ruairi Quinn.

They do not include the conviction and six-month jail sentence handed down to former minister Ray Burke last year for failing to make tax returns - as that prosecution was brought by the Criminal Assets Bureau.

The figures also exclude prosecutions for Vehicle Registration Tax and Customs and Excise offences, such as tobacco smuggling or counterfeit alcohol-related offences.

So far this year, there are 11 serious tax evasion cases before the courts, while a fine of €2,000 was imposed in relation to a case adjourned from last December.

Early indications are that the number of prosecutions is set to increase.

A Revenue spokesman said the vast majority of tax offenders reached settlements before the case resulted in a prosecution.

“Successful prosecutions for criminal offences are, by their nature, difficult to obtain,” he said.

The spokesman pointed out that Revenue had collected over €510m in settlements from 4,218 tax offenders since 1997.