The Revenue Commissioners has announced it will begin an investigation into undisclosed tax liabilities relating to life assurance products over the last 25 years.
The investigation, which could yield millions of euro for the government, will begin on May 23rd.
It will not apply to payments made into life assurance products from a non-taxable fund, or to payments that were properly disclosed for tax purposes.
People who have undisclosed tax liabilities with life assurance products are urged to inform the Revenue of their intention to disclose such payments before May 22nd, to benefit from "significantly reduced penalties" - and to avoid having their names and settlement details made public and being "investigated with a view to criminal prosecution".
Payment of outstanding liabilities will have to be made by July 22nd this year.
The early phase of investigations will focus on those whose aggregate investment was €20,000 or more, but will not solely focus on single premium accounts, as had been previously indicated.
The Revenue believes that those who the investigation applies to are well aware of their involvement in the practice but there is no suggestion that banks or financial institutions are implicated.
