The Revenue Commissioners' investigation into life insurance products has lead to 4,600 people paying €312 million to date under the voluntary disclosure phase of the process. Further payments are expected in the coming months.

In a statement, the Revenue said it would be following up some 3,500 cases where a notice of intention to make a disclosure was provided, but no further communication was received.

It also said it expected to receive further payments over the next few months, as individuals sought an extension of the voluntary disclosure deadline, which passed last Friday.

But it warned that it would continue to work at identifying all those who had used such products for tax evasion, but who did not make voluntary disclosures.

However, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland yesterday pointed out that although some 10,000 individuals had given notices of intention to disclose, almost one in five of these (1,600) had found that a disclosure and settlement payment was not required.

When coupled with the fact that more than one in three seemed to feel that they could ignore last Friday's deadline for payment, it said that this "bore out" its members' evidence that there was "some uncertainty on the part of taxpayers about the nature and scope of the investigation".

"Factors such as the time of year when the investigation took place, delays in concluding cases under earlier investigations, and conflicting messages regarding the eligibility of some taxpayers to participate in the scheme had a bearing on the outcome," it said.

The Revenue said it has already engaged with representatives of a number of life assurance companies in relation to new sampling powers provided for in the Finance Act, 2005. The remaining companies will be contacted shortly. However, it added that it is not possible to predict how much this second phase of its investigation will yield.

Last April, the Revenue announced a voluntary disclosure scheme for taxpayers who invested lump sums into insurance products without paying tax.

The deadline for a notice of intent to make a disclosure was May 23rd, with payment of the outstanding liabilities due by last Friday.

Extensions to this deadline may be granted to taxpayers where additional time is required to access the necessary information, or to realise sufficient assets to pay some or all of their liability.

But information ascertained as a result of the follow-up investigation phase of the Revenue's work will be used to support High Court applications for orders seeking information from insurance companies.

This will in turn be used to identify those taxpayers who have used life assurance products to conceal funds that have not yet been disclosed or declared for tax purposes.