Revenue secures €783m in unpublished tax settlements

Payments were agreed with almost 55,000 companies and individuals

Some €783 million was paid to Revenue last year in unpublished tax settlements. Photograph: Laura Hutton/RollingNews.ie
Some €783 million was paid to Revenue last year in unpublished tax settlements. Photograph: Laura Hutton/RollingNews.ie

Some €783 million was paid to Revenue last year in unpublished tax settlements involving close to 55,000 companies and individuals.

A total of €665 million was paid out by companies in 35,684 separate settlements, an average of about €19,000 each.

A further €103 million had to be given to Revenue by individual taxpayers and members of the public, according to records released under freedom-of-information legislation.

Those deals averaged about €6,000 each and made up 31 per cent of the total number of cases involving unpublished tax settlements in 2022.

Another €6.1 million was paid out by partnerships in just over 1,200 separate cases, roughly €5,000 for each settlement. There was also €1.09 million worth of settlements involving trusts estates, dealing with 195 cases.

Another €7.5 million was paid by unincorporated bodies in 771 separate settlements, at an average value of just over €10,500.

Revenue said it would not provide details of the top 20 largest settlements from last year, saying this could potentially lead to the identification of individual taxpayers.

It did, however, provide a breakdown of unpublished settlements by sector, with IT and other information services dominating at €307 million.

Next highest was the €77 million paid out by companies involved in wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles. There was €57 million in unpublished settlements involving firms in finance and insurance and €61 million from entities engaged in the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products.

Other sectors with sizeable settlements included construction at €31 million, some €32 million from accommodation and food providers and €36 million from companies involved in public administration and defence, and compulsory social security.

Also paid up was €22 million from real-estate firms, €5.4 million from residential and social care providers and €4.3 million from the arts, entertainment and recreation sector.

A Revenue spokeswoman said it supported voluntary compliance from taxpayers.

“The nature of any intervention conducted is based on taxpayer behaviour and the particular risks identified,” she said. “Taxpayers who avail of opportunities to review their tax compliance position and voluntarily address or disclose any issues identified may benefit by experiencing the minimum level of penalty and generally not risk either publication or prosecution.”

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