Accountant pays EUR80,000 to Revenue after five-year probe into unpaid tax

A Dublin-based accountant has paid €80,000 to the Revenue Commissioners on foot of unpaid taxes, interest and penalties after a near five-year probe into his financial affairs and will pay another amount estimated at €30,000.

The Dublin District Court yesterday heard that self-employed accountant Mr Michael McKenna had evaded tax by using a system of "duplicate invoices" and "non-numbered invoices". The court was told that VAT on these invoices was not paid. The monies were lodged into an AIB account on South Richmond St.

Senior inspector of taxes, Mr Derek Coleman, told the court that in 1997 he carried out an investigation into Mr McKenna's tax returns for the years 1992 to 1996. The VAT returns were based on a system of numbered invoice books. There were irregularities in the books, with some returns not numbered and some numbers used more than once.

Mr Coleman told the court that, in the early stages of his investigations, Mr McKenna had co-operated with Revenue but "in later years that did not happen".

However, last Thursday an accountant acting for Mr McKenna contacted Revenue and had produced "raw figures" for the period on which Revenue's investigations centred. Based on those figures it was estimated that Mr McKenna owed around €110,000, of which he had already paid €80,000.

Mr Coleman told the court that the figures produced were "very raw". Judge David Anderson adjourned the case until May 8th in order that "unraw" figures could be produced.

In November 2001, Mr McKenna, of McKenna and Co, Ontario Terrace, Rathmines, Dublin, pleaded guilty to 27 charges that arose out of his business activities between 1992 and 1998.

It was alleged on that date that, over this period, he hid €76,000 in fee income and held it in a bank account that was then used to pay staff bonuses and subsistence allowances resulting in the non-payment of VAT, PAYE and personal income tax.

Eighteen of the charges alleged that he delivered incorrect VAT returns, failed to pay the appropriate amount of VAT and failed to maintain proper records on six different periods between November 1992 and October 1997.

He faced separate charges of delivering incorrect P35 PAYE returns between 1993/94 and 1998/99, failing to make VAT returns in 1997 and 1998, and making incorrect tax returns for 1994/95. Yesterday the court was told Mr McKenna was still facing charges relating to 27 offences.