The Revenue accepted a payment of £3.94 million (€5 million) from Charles Haughey in 2003 in settlement of an estimated tax bill of £5.5 million (€6.98 million), the Moriarty tribunal heard yesterday.
At the time the settlement was the largest ever made by a taxpayer, but Mr Haughey's name did not appear in the quarterly list of tax defaulters.
Jacqueline O'Brien SC, for the tribunal, said this was because Mr Haughey's settlement did not include penalties valued at greater than 15 per cent of the overall settlement. She said the Revenue applied a 100 per cent cap on the amount of interest Mr Haughey paid.
The Revenue has told the tribunal that the application of the cap was the "invariable practice" of the Revenue in Capital Gains Tax and gift tax (CAT) cases.
Ms O'Brien said the tribunal believed there was no obligation on the Revenue to apply the cap.
She said the gifts being taxed dated back to 1977, the "receipt of the gifts was shrouded in secrecy", and not one gift tax return had been made.
Also, during this period Mr Haughey had the benefit of the gifts received, including the increase in the capital value of his lands at Kinsealy.
Ms O'Brien was reading an opening statement during resumed hearings into the performance of the Revenue in relation to raising taxes from Mr Haughey. An earlier £1 million settlement had been made in relation to payments identified by the McCracken (Dunnes Payments) tribunal.
She said a special Revenue team had been set up to deal with Mr Haughey. In 2001 the team conducted an intensive analysis of the information that was emerging from the tribunal. The first issue to be decided was whether the funds received by Mr Haughey should be subjected to CAT (40 per cent), or income tax. The Revenue decided that CAT was the appropriate tax. It also decided it would seek a negotiated settlement.
Mr Haughey had tax agents Paul Moore and Terry Cooney working for him, as well as accountant Des Peelo and Gore-Grimes solicitors. Mr Haughey's agents said no tax should be sought until the tribunal had reported but the Revenue did not agree.
The tribunal heard that the Revenue looked at the period 1977 to 1997. It decided that as it did not know all the gifts of money Mr Haughey had received, it would use his estimated expenditure over the period as a "proxy". It estimated the expenditure over the period at £6.9 million. It did not take Mr Haughey's income from politics into account (an estimated £600,000) as he cashed his pay cheques and did not bank the money.
Different, higher expenditure estimates led to different higher estimated tax liabilities, but the £6.9 million figure was eventually agreed with Mr Haughey's agents.
The Revenue noted the possibility that Mr Haughey could be prosecuted for failing to file certain returns. During the negotiations Mr Haughey's agents said he had been under no obligation to keep books of account as he had not been conducting a trade.
Also, he was in poor health. For these reasons, it was hard to analyse Mr Haughey's finances over the years. At one stage the agents offered to settle for £2 million. The Revenue estimated that Mr Haughey may have spent £9.9 million over the period in question, making for a potential tax bill of £6.5 million. However it did not think this was achievable. A settlement of between £3.25 million and £3.8 million was more likely, it decided.
On October 8th, 2002, an all-day meeting between the Revenue and Mr Haughey's advisers took place. It agreed a "core expenditure" figure of £6.9 million. This would lead to a tax bill of £5.5 million, including 100 per cent interest.
After a break for lunch the negotiations resumed and Mr Haughey's side made a final offer of £3.85 million. This offer was taken back to the board of the Revenue Commissioners. Mr Peelo was subsequently informed that the Revenue would settle for £3.94 million (€5 million) and this was agreed.
A deal was signed in March 2003.
