Tax defaulters pay €171m

Revenue Commissioners collected more than €427m in first nine months of year, writes Arthur Beesley, Senior Business Correspondent…

Revenue Commissioners collected more than €427m in first nine months of year, writes Arthur Beesley,Senior Business Correspondent

The Revenue Commissioners collected €170.88 million from tax defaulters in the three months to the end of September in settlements, bringing the total the exchequer received from defaulters in the first nine months of the year to more than €427 million.

The latest edition of Iris Oifigiúil lists 141 published settlements totalling €31.58 million in July-September and €139.3 million in unpublished settlements in the same period.

Those making settlements included the estate of Phil Monahan, the late property developer, and Joan Williams, former secretary to the late Des Traynor, the former CRH chairman who was a central figure in the Ansbacher affair.

READ MORE

Tralee solicitor Patrick Mann made a settlement for €244,581 in a list of defaulters that included Limerick doctor Geoge L Cantillon (€230,205) and Dunboyne veterinary surgeon Joseph Neylon (€764,000)

Publicans in Meath, Offaly, Donegal, Kilkenny, Kerry and Wexford featured on the list, as did several building contractors, farmers and company directors.

Revenue said that 25 of the published settlements, totalling €11.03 million, were made in respect of its long-running investigation into funds held offshore.

A further 25 settlements for a total of €6.97 million related to the investigation into bogus non-resident accounts and 26 settlements for a total of €3.53 million were made in respect of the investigation into single-premium insurance products. The Ansbacher inquiry yielded €1.35 million from four defaulters.

The biggest settlement was a sum of €2.75 million from Co Wicklow businessman Anthony Fogarty of Abbeylands, Arklow. A hardware merchant business he co-owns, P Boland Ltd, also made a settlement of €2.25 million in an audit case that uncovered underdeclared PAYE and PSRI.

Retired company director and farmer Séamus Quinn, from Enniscrone, Co Sligo, paid out €1.82 million for underdeclared income tax. Retired optician Thomas Carroll from Clonskeagh, Dublin, paid €1.72 million for underdeclared income tax and funds held offshore and in single premium insurance products.

Meath farmer Frederick Shekleton, from Drumconrath in Navan, paid €1.5 million for underdeclared income tax uncovered in an offshore assets case. Mr Shekleton's settlement included €1.04 million in interest and penalties.

Peter Sweeney snr, a farmer and potato merchant from Newcastle, Co Dublin, paid €1.29 million for underdeclared income tax in an offshore assets and single premium insurance products case.

Company director Michael Gerard Keane from Ballsbridge, Dublin, paid €1.02 million in respect of underdeclared income and capital gains tax and value added tax arising from the Ansbacher inquiry.

Companies on the list included Meath hedge-cutting plant provider Oliver Dixon (€275,000), hotelier Dundalk Leisure in Co Louth (€206,938), Newpark Developments of Ballina, Co Mayo (€124,807), and painting contracter McCosker & Sons in Co Donegal (€109,273).