Tax defaulters paid €7.3 million to settle unpaid debts to the Revenue in the first three months of the year, new figures show.
Longford waste business Mulleady’s Ltd, of Cloonaugh, Drumlish tops the list, paying €828,575 in tax, interest and penalties after an audit found it had under-declared income tax and social insurance.
The tax due was €413,670, while the company paid €290,804 interest and €124,101 in penalties.
Builder Thomas Foley, of St Anne’s Green, Carlow, listed as a company director, made the biggest personal settlement, and the second-largest overall, €809,018, for under-declaration of income and capital gains tax.
Mr Foley paid €373,850 in tax, €323,013 interest and €112,155 in penalties.
Tyre wholesaler Barne Accessories Ltd of Glenbawn, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, was responsible for the third-largest settlement, totalling €802,384 for under-declaring income tax, social insurance and VAT.
The company paid €445,411 in tax, €237,803 interest and €119,170 in penalties.
Well-known Dublin restaurant Picasso, in Clontarf, paid €143,126 in for under-declaring income tax, social insurance and VAT.
The business paid €94,057 in tax, €20,852 interest and €28,217 in penalties.
In all, the Revenue listed 19 cases where individuals and businesses settled in the first quarter of the year. All of them resulted from audits.
Revenue publishes a list every three months of people who have made settlements of more than €50,000.
[ European ruling could prevent Revenue publishing quarterly list of tax defaultersOpens in new window ]
Separately from the defaulters’ settlements, Revenue reported that 88 individuals convicted in court of tax offences paid more than €414,000 in fines, while a number received suspended sentences.
According to recent reports, Revenue is studying the implications of a recent European Court of Human Rights ruling that publishing tax defaulters’ details is a breach of their right to privacy.
The Strasbourg, France-based court ruled in favour of an unnamed Hungarian businessman who complained after that country’s tax authorities published his details subsequent to hitting him with a bill of more than €1.2 million in tax and penalties.
The man successfully claimed that this breached the European Convention on Human Rights, to which the Republic is a signatory.
