A TAX adviser hired by country musician Michael Foster, of Foster and Allen fame, to deal with his Irish affairs failed to file tax returns for four consecutive years, a court heard yesterday.
The tax adviser, who was also a barrister, was in custody in Mountjoy prison on the day of a court hearing and provided his client with only one letter which turned out to be a forgery, a sitting of Mullingar Circuit Court was told yesterday.
The evidence was given during an appeal hearing of a €12,000 District Court fine imposed last December on Mr Foster of Ballyboy, Walshestown, Slanemore, Mullingar, Co Westmeath for failing to file tax returns from 2003 to 2006.
When questioned over the management of his tax affairs, Mr Foster said he had hired the barrister/tax adviser on the advice of some businessmen in 2003.
He said he was certain returns were being filed because the accountant would arrive with forms which he would sign at different intervals.
He claimed to have complete faith in the tax adviser and said he forwarded all correspondence relating to tax affairs and court summonses to the adviser as soon as they arrived. “I got the odd letter here and there and I went to this gent about it and he said they were gone to a different office and there was a mistake here and a mistake there and he would look after it,” explained Mr Foster.
However, Judge Anthony Kennedy upheld the conviction for failure to file returns but halved the penalty to €6,000.
The court heard that in August 2007, the tax adviser gave Mr Foster a letter purporting to be from the Revenue. The letter stated that his affairs were in order and a simple review of his tax returns might need to be carried out.
Mr Foster said this was the only letter his adviser ever gave him. “The only letter we ever got was the one here today which is supposedly a forgery.”
State solicitor Peter Jones told the court, “this letter was tendered by the defence. The Revenue will come back and say that it was a fraud, make no bones about that”.
Revenue Insp Elizabeth NcEniff confirmed his statement. She said any letter from her department would have had Tullamore headed paper, the document produced in court contained Athlone headed paper and contained “entirely incorrect and false” information.
While on tour in England on November 13th last, Mr Foster received a call from the tax adviser’s secretary informing him of a District Court hearing. She advised him to hire a solicitor.
Mr Foster asked to speak to his adviser. “She said I couldn’t speak to him because he had been arrested and was in Mountjoy,” he told the court.
When Mr Jones put it to him that he should have been concerned about his adviser, Mr Foster said, “he had an excuse for being in Mountjoy . . . an oversight for something in England”
“Everytime I asked him a question like that he had an answer and several excuses as to why it was someone else’s fault,” he added. Mr Jones asked how a successful performer and businessman could make such an error in his tax affairs. “Successful maybe, businessman no,” replied Mr Foster.