Revenue publishes list of tax defaulters

Today (12/03/2024), Revenue published the List of Tax Defaulters in respect of the period 1 October 2023 to 31 December 2023. The list is published in Iris Oifigiúil, in two parts.

• Part 1: Persons in whose case the Court has determined a penalty relating to a settlement, or has imposed a fine, imprisonment or other penalty in respect of a tax or duty offence.

• Part 2: Persons in whose case Revenue has accepted a settlement offer instead of initiating court proceedings, or a settlement has been paid in full. This list reflects the amount of a settlement that remained unpaid at the end of the period 31 December 2023. Unpaid amounts are subject to Revenue’s normal debt collection and enforcement procedures.

Part 1: Court determinations

Court determination of penalty

Subject to certain criteria, in settlement cases wherethere is no agreement to a penalty, or a person fails to pay an agreed penalty, the Court determines the penalty. Details arepublished when the Court determined penalty exceeds 15% of the total tax (where the total amount of tax exceeds €50,000) and a qualifying disclosure has not been made:

• There were 3 such casesin the 3-month period to 31 December 2023, with €198,911 being the total amount of the Court determined penalties.

Court imposed fine, imprisonment or other penalty

Details are published when a fine or other Court penalty is imposed in respect of tax or duty offences. Court penalties may include imprisonment, partly suspended or suspended sentences, community service in lieu of imprisonment, and closure orders:

• 108 such cases are published and €238,082.50 is the total of court fines imposed.

These include:

• 35 cases of failure to lodge Income Tax return(s), 1 case of failure to lodge Corporation Tax return(s), 2 cases of failure to lodge VAT return(s) and 1 case of failure to remit VAT, in respect of which Court fines totalling €82,700 were imposed. A sentence of 240 hours of community service in lieu of 12 months imprisonment, was imposed in two of the three VAT offences.
• 23 cases of misuse of marked mineral oil, in respect of which Court fines totalling €60,500 were imposed.
• 41 cases of excise offences for tobacco smuggling, illegal selling of tobacco and possession of untaxed tobacco for sale. Court fines totalling €84,500, and nine sentences of varying lengths were imposed as follows:
  • 1 year imprisonment (fully suspended)
  • 7 months imprisonment (suspended for 18 months)
  • 4 months imprisonment (suspended for 24 months)
  • Two sentences of 2 months imprisonment (suspended for 12 months)
  • Two sentences of 240 hours of community service in lieu of 12 months imprisonment
  • and 
  • Two sentences of 40 hours of community service in lieu of 2 weeks imprisonment.

• 1 case of failure to hold a current liquor licence, in respect of which a Court fine of €632.50 was imposed.
• 3 cases of possession of untaxed alcohol for sale, in respect of which Court fines totalling €8,500, and a 2 day closure order, were imposed.
• 1 case of engaging in business without providing security, in respect of which a Court fine of €1,250, was imposed.

Part 2: Settlements

Settlements are published when the extensive voluntary disclosure options are not availed of and the default arises because of careless or deliberate behaviour:

• 16 cases are published today and €5.01 million is the total settlement amount in these cases. 
  •  16 cases exceeded €100,000                                                                                    
    • of which, 4 cases exceeded €500,000.
• 5 are cases in which the settlement was not fully paid as at 31 December 2023. 
• €1,131,411 was the amount unpaid as at 31 December 2023. Revenue vigorously pursues collection/enforcement of unpaid settlements. In some cases, collection/recovery of the full unpaid amount will not be possible (e.g. company liquidation).

Revenue compliance yield 

These published settlements reflect only a portion of all Revenue Compliance Interventions. In the 3-month period to 31 December 2023, a total of 14,039 Revenue Compliance Interventions were settled resulting in a total yield of €255.48 million.

List of tax defaulters

[ENDS 12/03/2024]