Irish Insurance Tax Disclosure Deadline Expires

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

24 May 2005

Yesterday was the deadline for disclosure to the Irish tax authorities of investments into undeclared single premium life assurance products; 10,000 disclosures are expected by the Revenue Commissioners.

By last week 2,500 people had made a preliminary or "qualifying" disclosure; the Revenue Commissioners believe thousands of people over the last 25 years may have channelled untaxed income through various life assurance products, and estimate the recoverable tax to be in excess of €1 billion. The investigation into bogus non-resident accounts flushed out 11,000 people, and the probe into offshore assets generated 14,000 disclosures

After the preliminary disclosure, a person has until July 22nd to make a full disclosure and submit payment of outstanding taxes, penalties and interest. The enquiry is currently targeting those who invested €20,000 or more in life assurance products.

Ireland's Revenue Commissioners met with representatives from the Irish Insurance Federation (IIF) earlier in the year to discuss execution of the probe. But.Irish insurance companies have not been helpful. The firms were urged by the Revenue to write to around 200,000 customers informing them of the investigation, although the industry itself is not under investigation for selling the insurance products in question. Irish Life refused, arguing that it is not legally obliged to participate in the probe, which will bring it significant additional costs for no benefit, and it was followed by other leading companies.

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