Revenue Commissioners To Call In On Non-Resident Tax Cheats

by Philip Morton, Investors Offshore.com

19 March 2002

The Irish Revenue Commissioners have warned bogus non-resident account holders who have still not settled their tax affairs to expect a visit from tax officials soon.

The Revenue revealed recently that it has been writing over the last couple of months to those that it believes still have outstanding tax liabilities, and following a High Court Order, the major banks have already begun to disclose the names of supposedly non-resident account holders to the department.

The Revenue Commissioners are currently believed to be working on cases involving 800 delinquent taxpayers who failed to avail themselves of last year's voluntary disclosure scheme. Although eight court orders have already been granted, requiring 11 financial institutions to hand over account details, further applications by the tax department are expected over the coming months.

Speaking to the Dail last month, Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy announced that those individuals who had taken advantage of the 1993 amnesty on bogus non-resident accounts, but had failed to disclose proper tax liabilities would also come under the Revenue spotlight.

However, according to reports, the tax department has played down suggestions that there are many millions remaining to be collected from errant taxpayers.

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