Revenue gets 4,000 web hits on offshore deal

The Revenue website has received 4,000 hits in recent weeks from people interested in its voluntary disclosure deal on money deposited abroad on which tax is due.

It has also received "hundreds" of calls to its dedicated phone line from people interested in finding out more about the offer.

New advertisements are to be placed in the newspapers next week by the Revenue to further raise the profile of the project.

Over the past two weeks, 10 financial institutions have been sending letters to what are understood to be tens of thousands of customers who have addresses in the State but bank accounts outside the Republic.

People who have money in such accounts, and who owe tax, have until March 29th to come forward. After that date, the opportunity to make a voluntary disclosure will no longer exist. Persons who make voluntary disclosures can benefit in terms of the amount of penal interest they will pay. They will also avoid risking prosecution and having their names published in Iris Oifigiúil.

The sending of the letters by the financial institutions follows a meeting late last year between Revenue chairman Mr Frank Daly and the chief executives of the institutions.

The Revenue's Offshore Assets Unit - which has only seven full-time staff and another on job share - is leading the investigation into offshore funds and is determined it will track down all those depositors who do not come forward under the voluntary disclosure scheme. International developments and powerful new legal weapons at home, have made investigations into offshore accounts much more feasible.

When Bank of Ireland Trust Company, Jersey, wrote out to its Irish-resident customers, 254 came forward with disclosures that netted the Revenue €105 million. A similar exercise involving Irish Permanent in the Isle of Man led to 1,250 people coming forward with disclosures that netted the Revenue €45 million.

Many of the callers to the Revenue in connection with the latest voluntary disclosure scheme are looking for copies of a special booklet the Revenue has published in association with it. Copies of the booklet have been sent out by some of the financial institutions along with their letters to customers advising them of the Revenue's offer. The booklet can also be downloaded from the Revenue website.

Persons who avail of the voluntary disclosure offer have to make a complete return in relation to all outstanding monies due to the Revenue and not just in relation to any funds that may be lodged outside the State.

The disclosure offer is open to companies as well as individuals. The Revenue's website includes question-and-answer format information concerning the offer. One question asks about a company that "does not hold an offshore account but a director of the company holds the account, which has been funded by untaxed monies extracted from the company".

The answer states that the Revenue is following "the practice used in dealing with Bogus Non-Resident (BNR) account holders. If the company is not precluded from making a qualifying disclosure, it can make a qualifying disclosure where an offshore account or financial product was held by a director of the company and the account was funded by untaxed monies extracted from the company.... This should allow directors and their companies to deal comprehensively with undisclosed tax liabilities, where both corporate and personal liabilities arise."

Persons or companies who availed of the bogus non-resident account voluntary disclosure scheme, but who did not make a full disclosure and had further undeclared monies deposited offshore, are precluded from making a voluntary disclosure under the current scheme.

The Revenue information booklet advises that taxpayers with untaxed income from before 1989 can put 15 per cent of such income into a pension fund.

However most people who would be in such circumstances are likely to be too old to be allowed put money into a pension scheme.