Anonymous taxpayer made £1.2m settlement

One individual had to pay a £1.2 million income tax settlement following a comprehensive revenue audit, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General's report.

Another comprehensive audit of a company led to a Corporation Tax settlement of £1 million. It is understood neither settlement led to publication of the taxpayer's name in Iris Oifigi·il, indicating they were voluntary disclosures.

The revenue conducted 2,270 comprehensive audits last year, during which £53.8 million was collected.

Overall, the Revenue had net receipts of £21.4 billion last year, compared to £18.4 billion in 1999. The highest single category was income tax, at £7.2 billion, followed by VAT at £5.8 billion and excise duty at £3.5 billion.

Non-PAYE income tax of £373 million was outstanding at the end of May of which £223 million is likely to be collected, according to the report.

Overall, outstanding taxes and levies on May 31st were £1,176 million, which was £121 million greater than last year's figure. The Revenue expects to collect 63 per cent of the total eventually, compared to 53 per cent of last year's total.

"The estimation of the amount likely to be collected takes into account such factors as anticipated reductions of estimate amounts brought forward, the level of liquidations and business closures and historical business patterns."

During last year £82 million in taxes were written off, of which VAT was £33.8 million, followed by non-PAYE income tax at £15 million and PAYE income tax at £13 million.

Cases where companies ceased trading and had no assets accounted for £33 million of the write-offs, followed by liquidation/bankruptcy at £19.6 million.

"The internal audit of 1999 write-offs, in which 185 or just over 4 per cent of cases were examined, has recently been completed. The results of the audit were satisfactory and while some procedural problems were identified, no instances were found where tax was improperly written off."

However, the Comptroller also said he had begun to examine a sample of some cases, "in some categories of write-off, in order to establish the extent and adequacy of Revenue activity over the years prior to write-off and whether the relevant lessons are learned from such cases".

On DIRT, the report shows that during the year to the end of May, £350 million in DIRT was raised and paid. Of this, £173 million in tax, interest and penalties arose from the look-back audits of financial institutions associated with the Dβil Public Accounts Committee inquiry into DIRT.