Irish Revenue Chief Warns Tax Evaders

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

22 November 2002

Ireland's Revenue Commissioners will continue tirelessly to root out tax evaders, head of the tax authority, Frank Daly announced this week.

According to the Irish Examiner, speaking at a business breakfast on Wednesday morning, Mr Daly warned that delinquent taxpayers should not hold out on paying tax owed in the hopes that either the Revenue will launch another amnesty, or that special teams investigating bogus non-resident account schemes, Ansbacher cases, and Flood Tribunal-related cases will simply give up.

'Neither will happen,' he explained. 'Either would be a betrayal of the majority of taxpayers who pay their fair share, a betrayal of the businesses who are entitled to a level playing field, a betrayal of the citizens for whom tax revenue provides basic services, and a huge blow to Revenue's own credibility as an organisation.'

He went on to explain that the tax department was continuing to see very good results from tax evasion investigations, citing the increased powers to access financial records afforded by the Finance Act of 1999, international moves towards greater information exchange, and an internal reorganisation as the three major factors behind the high success rate.

'To a certain extent the greater powers at home and the developments on the international scene are complementary because, when combined, they begin to close off the hiding places for money or funds on which tax has not been paid and such places are essential to successful large scale tax evasion,' he explained.

The Irish Examiner also revealed that the Revenue has held discussions with its counterparts in the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, and the Cayman Islands, and that it expects that these talks will lead to the successful negotiation of Tax Information Exchange Agreements.

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