The Revenue Commissioners has collected €100 million in its latest campaign against holders of bogus non-resident accounts, with €80 million coming from the 13,500 accounts targeted in October.
These individuals had been told to pay outstanding taxes, with interest and penalties due on the monies in these accounts, by December 17th. A large number of these payments were for more than €100,000 with some individuals paying between €1 million and €6 million, the Revenue said yesterday.
The Revenue will target a further 13,000 accounts in January as it continues to contact individuals who's details are being handed over by the State's financial institutions on foot of High Court orders.
This brings the total amount of money collected since the Dáil Committee of Public Accounts inquiry into DIRT tax evasion in 1999 to €550 million. Irish banks and building societies paid €220 million with a further €227 million paid by individuals who availed of a voluntary disclosure scheme offering reduced interest and penalties last year.
The Revenue yesterday reaffirmed its determination to pursue all individuals who used these bank accounts to evade taxes. "We are determined to pursue all the holders of bogus non-resident accounts using our extensive powers where this is necessary," it said yesterday.
Individuals who receive registered letters in relation to bogus non-resident accounts in January will be given 60 days to settle their affairs. The latest figures suggest the Revenue could collect many more millions from this campaign.
Many of these accounts were opened in the 1970s and 1980s and the individuals concerned face huge penalty and interest payments, in some cases amounting to more than twice the amount initially deposited in these accounts. Details of settlements of more than €12,700 will be published in the Revenue Commissioners' tax defaulters list.
To date, 17 High Court orders covering 23 financial institutions have been granted to the Revenue and one further order is before the courts. By trawling through this data and matching it against the findings of the Revenue's audit of financial institutions, it has identified thousands of individuals who have still not come forward to settle their affairs.
Many of those involved in the latest payments are understood to have been customers of AIB, which was found to have had the largest number of bogus non-resident accounts.
A reaction group has been established by a number of former AIB bank staff to help individuals who are being contacted by the Revenue. It is exploring the possibility of taking legal action against Irish financial institutions on the basis that their staff encouraged and advised customers to put money into bogus non-resident accounts to evade tax.
