O’Brien saves €57m in Revenue tax battle

Billionaire businessman Denis O’Brien has won a battle with Revenue that saves him paying nearly €57m in capital gains tax.

Sat, 07 Sep, 2013 - 01:00

Ray Managh and Aodhan O Faolain

Ms Justice Mary Laffoy agreed in the High Court with the decision of a Revenue Appeals Commissioner that Mr O’Brien’s permanent home for the tax year 2000/2001 was Quinta de Lago, Portugal, and not Ireland.

“Having regard to the evidence given and the facts found by the appeal commissioner, he was correct in holding that 6 Raglan Rd, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, was not a permanent home available to the appellant for the tax year 2000/2001 for the purposes of article 4.2 of the Ireland/Portugal Double Taxation Convention,” said Ms Justice Laffoy.

Mr O’Brien, who had been represented by senior counsel Dermot Gleeson, was also awarded costs of the High Court proceedings but Ms Justice Laffoy granted a stay on her costs order to facilitate consideration by Revenue of an appeal to the Supreme Court.

The High Court proceedings arose out of a decision by Revenue Appeals Commissioner Ronan Kelly that Mr O’Brien’s home was in Portugal and not Ireland, which meant that he was not liable for capital gains tax of €56.8m on the €285m he received for his shares in Esat Digifone when it was sold to British Telecom in 2000.

Will Denis O'Brien use the €57 million he saved in tax to get us another decent manager? #coybig #trapattoni
— James McNamara (@jimmya_mac) September 6, 2013