Jail for property developer who evaded €1.5m in tax

A seriously ill former property developer has been jailed for one year after he admitted evading over €1.5m in tax.

Alan Miller of Kilgobbin Road, Stepaside, Dublin pleaded guilty to six counts of failing to file returns for VAT, income tax and capital gains tax, and also admitted filing incorrect tax returns, on dates between 2003 and 2009.

Back in 1983, Alan Miller bought a five-story building on Dublin's Capel Street which he rented out in the 1990s.

After a refurbishment in the early 2000s, he sold four of the floors and the mezzanine of the property, making €6.2m from the sales.

However, when a tax inspector began investigating his affairs in 2011, it was revealed that he owed Revenue €1.56m in unpaid income tax, VAT and Capital Gains tax.

The father-of-four is trying to repay the debt, but now has no income, no assets, no State pension and the bank is foreclosing on his family home.

While the 68-year-old was praised in testimonials as an "unsung hero" who helped those less fortunate, Judge Mary Ellen Ring jailed him for a year and said “real unsung heroes are people who pay their taxes through great expense and difficulty to themselves”.