Revenue investigations yield €97m in third quarter

THE REVENUE Commissioners yielded more than €97 million from its audit and investigation programmes in the three months to the end of September.

The Government publication Iris Oifigiúil yesterday published the names of 76 tax defaulters who made settlements totalling almost €18 million.

Among the published cases for the third quarter of the year were three cases where the settlement made with the Revenue was for more than €1 million.

A retired amusement arcade proprietor, Frank Lehane, of Blenheim Lodge, Halfway House, Co Waterford, made a settlement of €1.3 million in relation to underdeclaration of tax. The case was uncovered by the Revenue’s investigations into misuse of single premium insurance products and non-resident accounts.

A retired postmaster, Thomas Wiseman, also made a settlement of €1.3 million as a result of underdeclaration of tax. This case emerged from the Revenue’s investigations into bogus non-resident accounts and offshore assets.

Parkland Investments Limited, a property development and sales agency based in Upper Mount Street in Dublin, made a settlement of €1.36 million in relation to underdeclaration of corporation tax.

The list also includes a Co Cork priest, Fr Tadhg O’Donovan, who made a settlement of €433,475 following an underdeclaration of income tax and capital gains tax.

Fr O’Donovan’s settlement includes the figure of €213,000 that he was reported to have settled with the Revenue in 2008. In March 2008, Fr O’Donovan, who is the curate of Whitechurch near Blarney in Co Cork, was fined €6,000 at Cork District Court for failing to disclose income he received from the rental of at least 11 properties over a five-year period.

The well-known musician Brendan Shine was fined €2,000 for failing to submit a tax return.

Builders, publicans and farmers featured prominently on the list of 76 published cases, where the settlements were in excess of €12,700.

The list also includes two medical consultants. Hepatologist John Hegarty, with an address at Avoca Avenue, Blackrock, Dublin, made a settlement for €627,289 with the Revenue. This was in relation to underdeclaration of income tax, capital gains tax and capital acquisitions tax.

Another medical consultant, cardiologist Peter Crean, with an address on the Sandycove Road, Co Dublin, made a settlement for €257,217 in relation to underdeclaration of income tax. This was a Revenue offshore assets investigation tax.

Other large settlements included Michael Condon, a Co Kilkenny solicitor, who made a settlement for €898,497 following the Revenue’s investigation into bogus non-resident accounts.

Tom McEvaddy, a Co Galway property developer, made a settlement for €679,308 in relation to an underdeclaration of VAT, while building contractors Warnock Bros Construction Ltd made a settlement for €515,693 in respect of underdeclaration of VAT and PAYE/PRSI in a Revenue audit case.

Some €9.32 million of the total €17.66 million collected from the 76 published settlements were the result of the Revenue’s investigations into bogus non-resident accounts, offshore funds and single premium insurance products.

A spokesman for the Revenue said the “legacy cases” from these investigations had become a smaller proportion of the total settlements of €97 million, with audit cases now yielding the majority of the settlements.