Officials to explain corporation tax settlements

Tax officials have been ordered to outline exactly how much money has been received from a small handful of Irish-based firms who owed €400m in unpaid corporation tax after all cases were “closed” at the start of this year.

TDs have demanded the Tax Appeals Commission provides an exact breakdown of how much money has been handed over by the companies and how much was written off.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) revealed more than €400m in unpaid corporation tax cases were “closed” in January and February.

In a letter to the PAC in recent days, Tax Appeals Commission’s chief appeals commissioner Paddy O’Keeffe said that, during the first two months of this year, a handful of leading firms settled lucrative cases over small fortunes large amounts in owed tax.

While the cases did not identify the companies involved, they include:

A firm which owed €138m in unpaid corporation tax;

Another owing €119m;

A third which owed €103m;

A fourth company which had a €68m corporation tax debt.

PAC chair and Fianna Fáil TD Sean Fleming said there were legitimate questions over how much of the money owed as part of the “closed” cases will be given to the taxpayer — and how much has been written off as part of potential settlement deals.

“There’s some very big cases that have been concluded, and we’re going to we want information in relation to what was the agreed figure [between the firms and the Tax Appeals Commission], the amount for the taxpayer, and has it been paid,” said Mr Fleming.

“We want a report on each of these, and we will ask them [the Tax Appeals Commission] to continue to provide us with the top 10 cases from here on in.

There have been more than €400m worth of cases that have been closed in recent weeks, and we would like to know the outcome for the taxpayer in each of those.

“We have to make sure we’re getting resolution on these matters. It’s in our interest to make sure tax due to the state is collected.”