Revenue to send 43,000 letters in bogus account inquiry

The Revenue Commissioners is to send out 43,000 letters in the coming months as part of its ongoing investigation into bogus …

The Revenue Commissioners is to send out 43,000 letters in the coming months as part of its ongoing investigation into bogus non-resident account holders.

A Revenue spokesman told ireland.comthat 23,000 letters in respect of 10,000 accounts would be sent out next month, with a further 20,000 letters in respect of 9,000 accounts will be posted in December.

Revenue has so far collected €634 million from its investigation into these accounts which have been used to avoid paying DIRT tax. After phase one of the investigation €220 million was collected from banks and financial institutions.

The second phase saw an 'incentive scheme', which allowed holders of such accounts to pay up before a specified deadline and guaranteed they would not be prosecuted or have their names published. Penalties were also capped at 100 per cent of their tax liability. Some €227 million was collected.

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This latest move is directed at those individuals who have not come forward and has resulted in 203 million being collected so far.

At the presentation of the Revenue's Annual Report in June, its chairman Mr Frank Daly said under new powers Revenue was increasingly extending its reach offshore, and money-laundering legislation and co-operation between tax jurisdictions were proving very effective in identifying offshore evasion.