Revenue fails to halt O’Brien’s appeal

The Revenue Commissioners have failed in the High Court to stop an appeal by Denis O’Brien relating to a finding that a tax return from him 14 years ago was insufficient due to it being completed in a negligent manner.

Mr O’Brien can now go ahead with a case in which he says the Circuit Court should fully hear an appeal he has brought against that finding by an inspector of taxes relating to his return for 1999-2000. Yesterday, Mr Justice Bernard Barton ruled that Mr O’Brien was entitled to appeal a Circuit Court decision of July last year on the matter.

The Circuit Court had refused to list his appeal for hearing after the Revenue successfully argued Mr O’Brien had also elected to have the matter dealt with by way of case stated in the High Court and it was not permissible to run the same case in both the Circuit and High Courts.

Mr Justice Barton said the Circuit Court ruling, by Judge Jacqueline Linnane, was not a decision on the appeal within the meaning of the law but rather an order on “a procedural application”.

Mr O’Brien was therefore entitled to have his appeal heard by the High Court and he dismissed Revenue’s motion to strike out his appeal against the Circuit Court order.

Martin Hayden SC, for Mr O’Brien, said he would now be seeking to have the matter remitted back to the Circuit Court when the matter next comes before the High Court.

The case concerned questions raised in 2010 by an inspector of taxes about Mr O’Brien’s returns for 1999-2000. In particular, the inspector asked about the exchange of Mr O’Brien’s holding of shares in Esat Telecom for certain loans in a company call BT Hawthorn. While the raising of such questions is limited by a time bar of four to six years, this limit is not applicable if an inspector believes the taxpayer’s returns were insufficient due to being completed in a negligent manner, said Brian Murray SC, for the Revenue.