Revenue enforcement and audits yield €573m

Revenue audits and investigations uncovered almost €573 million in unpaid taxes last year, figures published on Friday show.

The State’s tax authority issued results showing that individuals and businesses paid €54.5 billion in taxes and duties to the Exchequer during 2018.

The Revenue also collected a further €13.5 billion for other Government departments, agencies and EU member states.

Chairman Niall Cody confirmed that Revenue completed 572,785 audits and "compliance interventions" in 2018 that yielded €572.6 million in unpaid tax .

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Compliance interventions include investigations of taxpayers, queries on particular issues that come to the Revenue’s attention or interviews.

Revenue also seized 158 unlicensed gaming machines, settled 22 tax avoidance cases, generating €5.7 million, and secured 17 criminal convictions for serious evasion and fraud.

“Continued strong levels of timely, voluntary compliance by taxpayers reflect the reality that the vast majority of individuals and businesses pay the right amount of tax, on time,” Mr Cody pointed out.

He also repeated Revenue’s message that businesses and individuals facing difficulty in paying their tax bills should engage early.

Mr Cody noted that 9,088 taxpayers agreed phased payment arrangements covering €93 million in debt with Revenue last year.

“We can, and do, very successfully work with taxpayers who engage early with us to resolve their payments difficulties,” he added.