The Revenue Commissioners will act on tax information that has emerged from the
Dunnes payments tribunal. However, the Revenue's chairman, Mr Catal Mac
Domnaill, said last night they will wait until the final report is published before taking any action.
He was speaking after the publication of the Revenue's annual report for
1996, which shows record tax receipts of £12,093 million. This is
£1.2 billion higher than was collected in 1995.
Mr Mac Domnaill said the tax implications of some of the transactions detailed at the tribunal were not clear at present.
The Revenue Commissioners did not want to prejudice the tribunal's outcome by acting now, he said.
He told The Irish Times that the Revenue had closely monitored the tribunal and would be taking "appropriate action". He said officials were currently evaluating information from the tribunal.
It is understood the Commissioners were surprised at some of the information to emerge. It is also understood that the tax affairs of certain parties involved are already under investigation but that proceedings have been put on hold until after the tribunal reports.
It is also understood that the Revenue already have a copy of the Price
Waterhouse report which was prepared for Dunne Stores.
Mr Mac Domnaill said the Revenue Commissioners only have powers to investigate named individuals and their bank accounts. However, he said the question of whether these powers should be extended further was a "very serious question". He added that if the Revenue felt they needed extra powers they would probably get them.
Yesterday, the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, said the Revenue's powers of investigation would be extended if necessary to allow it to investigate matters raised at the tribunal.
Mr Mac Domnaill rejected suggestions that the Commissioners target small individuals rather than chasing big companies. He said 500 Revenue staff are constantly auditing companies and individuals who owe substantial taxes. They are backed up by several hundred research assistants who identify cases.
The annual report lists almost 230 tax settlements, amounting to around
£10 million. However, for these names to be published, the taxes owed must be over a certain amount and the settlements must include penalities and interest.
If any of these elements are missing or if the individual or company makes a voluntary disclosure regarding the tax at issue then the name cannot be published. Therefore, it is possible that the name of parties investigated following the tribunal and found to have outstanding tax liabilities will not be made public.
The Revenue referred 132 cases for prosecution for failure to file
Corporation Tax returns. In 43 cases, fines were employed. Fines of £
1,200 were imposed on 1,010 employers who failed to submit a P35 return.
The Revenue is also redoubling its efforts to combat "serious tax evasion".
A special prosecutions policy unit was established last year and a number of cases are now with the Garda Bureau for Fraud Investigations "and, where appropriate, referral to the DPP".