Offshore amnesty scheme yields £176m for Revenue

Tax dodging offshore account holders have paid Ir£176m, the Revenue Commissioners have revealed.

However, thousands more people have not availed of the voluntary disclosure scheme and the Revenue is pledging to begin High Court action within days.

Revenue Commissioner Dermot Quigley described the yield from the scheme as "an excellent outcome".

3,500 people have owned up, and paid up in respect of around 6,500 accounts by last Thursday's deadline.

Revenue estimates that there are somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000 tax-dodging accounts which were not disclosed despite the amnesty - and they're vowing to track those people down, name and shame them, make them pay, and where appropriate take criminal prosecutions.

However, with 11 people paying over Ir£1m each, Revenue believes that most of the "big fish" have paid up.