Revenue trawl nets £1.87m in settlements

A motor dealer from Co Cork, who made a settlement of £238,473 with the Revenue Commissioners, has said the payment was related to VAT and other taxes due from as far back as the early 1980s.

Mr Michael Fleming, of Ruhill Cross, Boherbue, Co Cork, made the largest of 56 settlements with the Revenue listed in Iris Oifigiuil, published yesterday. The total amount involved is £1,870,516.

"They carried out an audit going back to 1980 and we weren't paying our fair share at the time," Mr Fleming said. "But our affairs have been in order for the last eight or nine years." Mr Fleming's settlement comprised of £137,228 in tax underpaid, and £101,245 in penalties. The next largest amount in the list was £130,065, paid out by Lowestrand Properties Ltd, a property development company with an address at The Grainstore, Lr Abbeygate St, Galway. The penalties and interest were £14,051.

A settlement of £108,042 was paid by Mr John Quinn, a company director, of Cartrons, Longford. According to the records in the Companies Office, Mr Quinn is a director of Creative Yarns Ltd, Athlone Road, Longford. The penalties and interest in Mr Quinn's case amounted to £54,073.

Other settlements listed included: £125,000 by Mr Edward Duignan, a farmer and cattle dealer, of Kinnegad Road, Ballivor, Co Meath; £99,943 by Westbrook Developments Ltd, builders, of Empress Place, Summerhill North, Cork; and £52,000 by Mr John O'Browne, a company director and horse breeder, of Ladner, Colman, Fethard, Co Tipperary.

Publicans Mr Donal and Ms Nancy Mulcahy, trading as Nancy Blakes in Limerick paid a total of £105,000 in three separate settlements with the commissioners.

The settlements published show a fairly even spread around the State and across a range of businesses.

Settlements are not published where the amount is less than £10,000 or where the taxpayer approached the Revenue with a full disclosure. Yesterday's list also included 110 cases where fines totaling £89,900 were imposed on individuals and companies which had not lodged proper returns.