M.J. Wallace Ltd., a construction company in
receivership owned by Mick Wallace, a non-party TD, was among 129 taxpayers
making settlements or declarations valued at €29.6m in the first quarter of
2012. is the second largest settlement listed. Wallace made an under-declaration
of corporation tax and VAT, including interest and penalties totals €2,133,708.
Te amount will not be paid as his company has large loans outstanding, which it
has not company funds to pay. The largest settlement is O’Shea Fishing of Fintra
Road, Killybegs Co. Donegal, which following an offshore assets investigation
case, resulted in a settlement of €3,390,304 for the underdeclaration of
corporation tax and PAYE/PRSI. A gynaecologist settles for almost €2m.

The third largest settlement amounts to
€1,895,667 and has been agreed by Dr. Ahmed Hussain of Carrickane, Cavan, Co.
Cavan,  a consultant gynaecologist for the under-declaration of income tax
– –  some are still doing well in a bankrupt
country.

Today’s edition of
Iris Oifigiúil contains details of published settlements
completed by Revenue. It also contains details of penalty determinations made by
the courts in respect of taxpayers who have deliberately or carelessly made
incorrect returns in the period 1 January 2012 to 31 March 2012.

The list is published in two parts:

Part 1 lists
every person upon whom a fine or other penalty was imposed by a court. This
includes the following categories:

• Failure to file a return
• Filing an incorrect return
• Illegal selling of tobacco
• Cigarette smuggling
• Various excise and licensing offences.

Part 11 lists:

• every person in whose case the Revenue Commissioners accepted a specified
  sum in excess of €12,700/€30,000/€33,000 (depending on the periods in which
  the liabilities arise) in respect of any additional liability due for tax,
  interest and penalties arising from a settlement, instead of instituting
  proceedings for the recovery of the penalties, and the amount of penalty
  included in the settlement exceeded 15% of the tax and
• every person in the case of whom a penalty was determined by a court during
  the period 1 January 2012 to 31 March 2012. Penalty determinations are
  published in this list only where the penalty determined by a court exceeds
  15% of the tax by reference to which the penalty determination has been made
  and where the aggregate of the tax, the interest due on that tax and the
  penalty determined exceeds €30,000.

Unpaid amounts are subject to normal collection and debt recovery procedures.

Making a Qualifying Disclosure of
Tax Defaults and avoiding Publication in the List of Tax Defaulters

The revenue says where a taxpayer has, in advance of any Revenue Enquiry, voluntarily furnished
complete information relating to undisclosed tax liabilities, and paid the tax
and interest due, (made a qualifying disclosure of tax defaults), settlements or
penalty determinations are not published. A qualifying disclosure may be made at
the start of a Revenue Audit and publication will be avoided.

Calculation of Penalties

Penalties, where applied in settlements, are calculated by reference to the
appropriate category of default. The categories of default are Deliberate
Behaviour or Careless Behaviour. The level of penalty may be further reduced
having regard to the level of cooperation provided by the taxpayer once the
default is uncovered.

Deliberate Behaviour involves either a breach of a tax obligation with
indicators consistent with intent on the part of the taxpayer or a breach that
cannot be explained solely by carelessness.

Careless Behaviour involves lack of due care, which results in the incorrect
declaration of tax liabilities by a taxpayer, or which results in the making of
incorrect repayment claims.

Full details of the level of penalties chargeable in audit settlements are set
out in Penalty
Table 1 of the Code of Practice for Revenue Audit.

In situations where a qualifying disclosure of tax defaults, as provided for in
legislation, has not been made by a taxpayer, penalties levied range between 15%
and 100% depending on the category of default and whether or not the taxpayer
has cooperated with Revenue in the course of enquiries.

Innocent errors and adjustments due
to different interpretations of legislation

Penalties are not
charged where a tax default
was not deliberate, or was not attributable in any way to the failure by a
taxpayer to take reasonable care to comply with his or her tax obligations.
Neither is a penalty charged where an adjustment to liability arises from
differences in the interpretation or the application of legislation, and the
taxpayer could reasonably have considered her/his interpretation to be correct.

Settlements Published

In the 3-month period to 31 March 2012, 129 taxpayers
fall to be published. The settlements, or determinations, in these cases total
€29.60m.

Of the 129 published
cases, 62 were
for amounts exceeding €100,000; of which 13 exceeded
€500,000 and 5 of
that 6exceeded
€1,000,000.

Of the 129 cases:

• 4 settlement
  totalling €0.51m relates to a
  Bogus Non-Resident Account holder
• 14 settlements
  totalling €6.73m relate to
  Revenue investigations into Offshore Funds, and
• 7 settlements
  totalling €0.83m relate to
  Revenue’s Single Premium Insurance Products Investigation Cases.

The Revenue said that the published settlements reflect a portion only of all Revenue audits and
investigations concluded in the 3-month period to 31 March 2012. Settlements are
only published when the extensive voluntary disclosure options are not availed
of and the default is as a result of careless or deliberate behaviour. A total
of 2,369 Revenue audit and investigations together with 5,142 other compliance
interventions (aspect queries profile interviews) were settled in the period 1
January 2012 to 31 March 2012 resulting in yield of €130.27m.

* The total figure includes tax, interest and penalties