Move against rule-breakers 'hampered'

Revenue Commissioners: More than 1,000 people who availed of the 1993 tax amnesty have since made settlements as a result of Revenue inquiries into such matters as bogus non-resident accounts, evidence arising from tribunals and the inquiry into offshore assets.

However, the Revenue has told the Comptroller & Auditor General, Mr John Purcell, that it has not yet been able to assemble sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction under the amnesty rules against anyone who made a false declaration in 1993.

The securing of convictions against people who availed of the amnesty, but breached its rules, was hampered by the confidentiality provisions contained in the legislation that established the amnesty, Revenue said.

The provisions were very tightly drawn, Mr Purcell said.

But "notwithstanding the significant evidential and burden-of-proof difficulties", the Revenue was currently actively considering a number of cases for possible prosecution.

The Revenue told the C&AG that it was not obliged to check the validity of each amnesty claim encountered.

The C&AG was told that 208 people who came forward voluntarily as part of the Revenue's bogus non-resident accounts scheme had availed of the amnesty. A further 550 were discovered in the subsequent inquiry into people who had not come forward. Other special inquiries had come across 14 cases where people had availed of the amnesty, while seven people investigated as part of the Revenue's offshore assets campaign had availed of the amnesty.

Ongoing Revenue audits have dealt with 320 amnesty cases, the C&AG was told. Under the amnesty people could settle their affairs with a 15 per cent payment. However, everyone with tax issues was obliged to avail of the amnesty, and people who did not declare the full amount owed could be subject to fines and penalties. In addition, the return for the year 1992 to 1993 had to be full and complete.

A person who availed of the amnesty was given a certificate which he or she could produce to the Revenue if it subsequently started to investigate his or her affairs. The certificate did not give financial details, and the Revenue could only continue to investigate the taxpayer's pre-1993 affairs with the permission of the Appeals Commissioners.

Of the people who voluntarily came forward to avail of the bogus non-resident account scheme, 62 made disclosures that resulted in their amnesty settlements being set aside. The resultant tax take from these was €3 million.

In total the Revenue Special Investigations have raised €1,559 million to July 2004 from all investigations including the tribunals.

"The remaining 146 amnesty cases who came forward under the [non-resident accounts] scheme did not have to make additional payments ... as their amnesty declarations had disclosed their full liability", the C&AG was told.

Earlier this year it was revealed that the Revenue had successfully made a case to the Appeal Commissioners that it be allowed go behind an amnesty certificate in a case involving the Ansbacher deposits.

The chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, Mr Frank Daly, has said the Ansbacher inquiry is proving difficult but "we're not stepping back, in fact we are going to intensify our efforts".