There are only seven tax inspectors assigned to police the entire financial services sector, according to IMPACT, the trade union which represents technical staff at the Revenue Commissioners. It called at the weekend for extra resources to be allocated "in the light of recent revelations about AIB's DIRT tax liability".
The union is also seeking extra powers for inspectors to investigate individual accounts, in the context of tax audits. It says that seven inspectors cover all banking institutions, building societies and credit unions. The other 280 are allocated to monitoring company taxation, PAYE and the self-employed.
