O’Connor on tax defaulters list after €160,304 settlement

Plastic surgeon, retired builder and aircraft painting firm all included on defaulters’ list

Singer Sineád O’Connor has appeared on the latest tax defaulters’ list after making a settlement of €160,304 with Revenue for the underdeclaration of PAYE and PRSI.

O’Connor (49), whose address was given as Strand Road, Bray, Co Wicklow, agreed a settlement of €90,543 to which a further €69,761 in interest and penalties was attached.

The musician recently accused a former agent of defrauding her of thousands of euro in relation to three concerts in Germany last year

She posted a document on Facebook, which appeared to show she was paid just €500 for the gigs while her agent at the time got €11,700 for production costs and commission.

READ MORE

The singer, whose biggest hit was her 1990 version of the Prince song Nothing Compares 2 U, is separately being sued for up to $5 million (€4.4 million) by US comedian and talk show host Arsenio Hall over comments she made in the wake of Prince's death in April.

Attempts to contact the singer were unsuccessful.

The two biggest settlements on the latest list of defaulters were made by a Co Meath builder and a Dublin aircraft-painting company.

James Farrell, formerly of James J Farrell Construction but now listed as a retired company director from Oldcastle Road, Kells, made a settlement of €1.4 million, comprising €686,341 in tax and an additional €731,705 in interest and penalties, for the non-declaration of capital gains tax and VAT.

Aircraft painters and glaziers IAC Graphics, with an address in IAC House, Dublin Airport, meanwhile, made a settlement for €1.1 million, comprising €582,079 in tax and an additional €540,273 in interest and penalties, for the under-declaration of VAT, PAYE/PRSI and corporation tax.

There were eight settlements involving sums over €500,000, including one relating to Dublin office supply firm BizQuip.

The company with an address in Sandyford Industrial Estate, Dublin18 made a settlement for €925,463 for the under-payment of PAYE and PRSI. The case was one of three cases, yielding €1.37 million, related to the Revenue’s investigation into offfshore assets and funds.

HM Yachts Limited, a Cork firm listed as boat sales agents, made a settlement for €923,782 for the underpayment of VAT.

Plastic surgeon Kevin Cronin, with an address in Eccles Street, Dublin7, made a settlement of €534,252 for the under-declaration of income tax.

The list, covering the three-month period from April to June, contains 101 individuals and businesses. The settlements in these cases totalled €17.44 million.

Settlements are only published when voluntary disclosure options are not taken and the default arises as a result of what Revenue describes as “careless or deliberate behaviour”.

A total of 1,734 Revenue audit and investigations, together with 23,987 risk management interventions were settled in the period, resulting in a yield for the Revenue of €125.3 million.

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy is Economics Correspondent of The Irish Times