Revenue a taxing issue for social networkers

USERS OF social networking sites have often been warned about leaking private details online. However, the story took a new twist when it emerged in recent days that the Revenue is using the sites to gather information on the subjects of audits before carrying out their investigation.

As a public information source, social networking sites could unwittingly provide third parties with information you would rather they did not have, from potential employers to landlords.

Facebook and MySpace are being used increasingly to reach out to business contacts. A quick scan through the sites reveals a number of profiles with a commercial interest.

MySpace profiles advertise the work of everyone from musicians to photographers, while PR companies and other firms have set up profiles on Facebook to advertise their activities. LinkedIn, the most popular professional networking website, offers a way for business contacts to get in touch with each other, and can provide employment history and users' current projects.

More Irish users log on to sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace, but they could face trouble with the Revenue if they fail to declare business interests.

One subject of a Vat audit was reported to have been presented with a list of his business activities gleaned from his social networking activities.

"It's a very good example that the Make IT Secure week has been trying to get across to people about the dangers of social networking sites," says Conor Flynn, Rits Security.

"The problem is that people using the social networking sites forget about the accessibility, and are quite naive about the information they are publishing."

Flynn points out that the Revenue can use such sites to gather clues about a person's lifestyle, for example, details of foreign property, new cars and holidays that their revenue stream would otherwise not support.

"They could be demonstrating a lifestyle beyond the means they have declared in their tax returns," he says. "It is out there for the public to see; the Revenue is doing nothing wrong."

However, given the propensity for some people to exaggerate their profiles, social networking sites may not be the most reliable source of information.

"They are not at all reliable,"says Flynn. "However, it provides the Revenue investigators with a starting point. If people choose to exaggerate, they are drawing attention to themselves unnecessarily."

The Revenue is taking a sensible approach to the information it gathers from these sources.

"We treat any information we get off the internet with caution," a Revenue spokesman said, adding that there was no danger of someone receiving a tax assessment based on information gleaned solely from online sources. The official line is that there is no set policy instructing investigators to use these sites, but social networking websites can come in useful to help build a picture of a subject before an investigation gets under way.

Recent research by security company Espion found that 91 per cent of profiles listed in Facebook's Irish network can be viewed by anyone else in that network.

The same study found 19 per cent of users put their employer's name in their profile, giving the Revenue even further information on their business activities, while 99 per cent of people used their full names, with almost 70 per cent displaying their date of birth.