The Revenue has collected £396,044 (€502,872) from three bogus non-resident account-holders under the new arrangements offering reduced interest and penalties to those who make a full disclosure before November 15th.

The three individuals who have settled their affairs so far have paid £198,075 in unpaid taxes and a further £197,969 in interest and penalties. The Revenue has already collected £173 million in unpaid Deposit Interest Retention Tax (DIRT) from the State's financial institutions, which facilitated bogus non-resident accounts for customers.

The account-holders are now being encouraged to disclose the source of the funds held in those accounts and are being offered reduced interest and penalties as an incentive to voluntarily come forward. The Revenue estimates that between 25,000 and 50,000 individuals will avail of the new arrangements. It believes many bogus non-resident account-holders used the tax amnesties to regularise their affairs.

In a reply to a question in the Dail this week, the Revenue said it has received more than 600 general enquiries to its helpline since it was set up on May 2nd. A large number of these calls were from tax practitioners.

The disclosure and payment offered by the three account-holders have been acknowledged by the Revenue. A representative proportion of all of the disclosures made will be examined by the Revenue after the November 15th deadline. This examination is to "deter and detect any abuse rather than to find fault with the best estimates of those making disclosures", according to the Revenue.

Auditors and investigators will focus primarily on those accountholders who have not made a disclosure and paid whatever money is due by that deadline. "A much more severe regime will apply in these cases in comparison with voluntary disclosures," it said.