THE REVENUE Commissioners boosted the State's coffers by almost €180 million through its audit and investigation programmes during the three months to the end of June.
As usual, publicans, landlords and builders featured prominently in the selection of 87 settlements published yesterday by the Revenue.
These published cases, which represent just a portion of the total audits conducted during the three months to June 30th, were worth a total €17.55 million. The list included four settlements of more than €1 million and 38 cases exceeding €100,000.
A total of 16 settlements, worth €31.6 million, related to single premium insurance products, and a further 14 arose from Revenue investigations into offshore funds. Five of the tax defaulters listed were holders of bogus non-resident accounts and one was an Ansbacher account holder.
The two largest settlements were made by Galway solicitors. Barry Fitzgerald of Kiltartan House, Forster Street, paid €2,565,442 to Revenue in settlement of an underpayment of income tax, capital gains tax (CGT) and VAT, following a Revenue audit.
Another Galway solicitor, Gerard Moylan of Lake Road, Loughrea, was the subject of a Revenue bogus non-resident account investigation and paid more than €1.286 million in undeclared income tax and accumulated interest and penalties.
"Due to the absence and unprocureability of bank and personal records I was unable to satisfy Revenue that capital sums which originated from business ventures in which I was involved some 20 to 25 years ago were fully tax compliant," Mr Moylan said yesterday in a statement.
"All taxes, interest and penalties have since been fully paid and receipted by revenue," he added.
A spokesman for Revenue said that although the tax authorities sometimes operate sectoral projects concentrating on certain professions, the prevalence of Galway-based solicitors "might be coincidental".
Castletownbere, Co Cork-based fisherman Cornelius Minihane contributed almost €1.2 million in undeclared income tax, interest and penalties to Revenue's tax haul.
Among the high-profile figures on the settlement list were Fine Gael councillor Anne Devitt and leading jockey Jamie Spencer.
Champion Sports founder Paul McGlade, originally from Belfast, was also named as a tax defaulter.
Also listed was Timothy Nagle, a builder based in Mallow, Co Cork, who made a settlement in excess of €780,000.
Mr Nagle was found to have underdeclared income tax and VAT, after being investigated for holding a bogus non-resident account, and in relation to offshore assets and single premium insurance product.
