Wedding planner 'Franc' among tax defaulters

High-profile wedding planner Weddings by Franc has been named on the latest tax defaulters’ list published by the Revenue Commissioners.

Weddings by Franc Ltd, based in Fermoy, Co Cork, made a settlement of €97,843 in tax, interest and penalties in relation to the under-declaration of corporation tax, VAT and PRSI and as a result of Revenue’s investigations into single premium insurance products.

The settlement was one of 89 published settlements for the fourth quarter of 2008, totalling €18.66 million.

The wedding planning company fronted by Peter Kelly, aka 'Franc', was featured in an RTÉ television documentary series Brides of Francand organised weddings including that of Sky News weather presenter Lisa Burke.

The biggest single settlement on today’s list was €3,167,638 in tax, interest in penalties made by Thomas Keane, a builder from Valentia Road, Caherciveen, Co Kerry.

A total of 40 farmers were on the list, followed by 30 publicans, 25 company directors , 21 building contractors, and 14 plasterers. The list also had strong representation from the haulage industry, carpenters and restaurateurs.

Of the 89 settlements with Revenue, eight totalling €1.35 million relate to bogus non-resident account holders.

A total of 46 settlements were for amounts exceeding €100,000, of which six exceeded €500,000. Two of that six exceeded €1 million.

Some 26 settlments totalling €2.97 million relate to Revenue investigations into offshore funds and 13 settlements totalling €5.96 million relate to investigations into single-premium insurance products.

Revenue said the published settlements reflect only a portion of all Revenue audits and investigations concluded in the three-month period to December 31st 2008.

The total yield from Revenue audit and investigation programmes settled in the period October 1st 2008 to December 31st 2008 was €145.2 million.