Time for tax evaders to pay price

People who have sought to evade their legal tax obligations to the State have until tomorrow to regularise their affairs with the Revenue Commissioners or face the prospect of penalties which will cost them far more than they should have paid in tax in the first place.

Those who used bogus non-resident accounts to evade their legitimate tax responsibilities must not be

allowed to play the same game again.

Tomorrow is another deadline they have been afforded by the Revenue Commissioners, and deadlines for tax evaders rankle with ordinary decent citizens who appreciate the country cannot be run without taxes.

Anybody who has used this device to defraud the State and continues to ignore the warnings from the tax authorities should be, and must be, subjected to the fullest rigours of the law when the system eventually catches up with them.

The Revenue Commissioners have stated unequivocally their determination to vigorously pursue those who fail to observe tomorrow’s deadline and have warned that these cases face significant additional penalties and interest, plus the possibility of criminal prosecution.

A voluntary scheme to come clean was offered to bogus non-resident account-holders more than 12 months ago and while some of them came to their senses and availed of the opportunity, others are more recalcitrant.

To date, the total recovery from DIRT investigations have netted almost 500 million, about one-tenth of it being recouped in the last twelve months, but the Exchequer is still at a considerable loss.

Those who have still to settle their long outstanding accounts must realise the Revenue Commissioners have the legal muscle to trawl through bank accounts and whatever records from financial institutions that they deem necessary for their investigations.

It is ironic that those institutions, some of which not just encouraged customers to use bogus non-resident accounts but helped set them up, are now legally obliged to collaborate with the taxman to unearth them.

Under the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, High Court orders can be secured by the Revenue to discover cosy arrangements between financial institutions and customers who used fictitious addresses outside this country to completely by-pass our tax laws.

Many of them have been woken up by letters from the Revenue Commissioners. Since the middle of last October, on foot of High Court orders, 23 financial institutions and about 13,500 of their customers have discovered client confidentiality is not as inviolable as they had presumed, and hoped.

After tomorrow’s deadline, miscreant account-holders have 10 days’ grace in which to co-operate with the taxman. After that, if they insist on ignoring his advice, they will face the prospect of the imposition of serious interest charges and penalties, and criminal prosecution.

As far as most ordinary taxpayers are concerned, the sooner they pay up the better, because for far too long the sitting ducks in the system have been carrying the can.

It is long gone past the point where the softer options are being extended to those who abuse the system.