Taxman hits former Mallow landowners
THE UK-based former owners of Mallow Town Park, Patrick and Michael Jephson, are among the names included on the latest list of tax defaulters released this week by the revenue service.
The brothers, who are both listed as property dealers with addresses in Middlesex, each made a settlement of €172,157 in relation to the under-declaration of Capital Gains Tax. In each case the total was comprised of €59,499.77 in tax and combined interest and penalties of €112,657.23.
Former naval officer Patrick Jephson was a royal equerry (an officer of the household of a prince) and served as the late Princess Diana’s private secretary for eight years to 1996, subsequently writing a controversial book ‘Shadows of the Princess’ about her.
The Jephson family have a long association with the town of Mallow, stretching back generations to a time when their ancestors owned Mallow Castle.
Back in 2006 the brothers sought to take possession of Mallow Town Park, which had been given to the people of Mallow in 1907 as an amenity on a 99year lease by the then owner of Mallow Castle, Katherine Jephson Norreys.
The controversy rumbled on for almost a decade before Cork County Council finalised a deal to buy the park in 2015 for €1 million.
Mallow-based company Micro Wind Installations (Ireland) Ltd with an address at Oakfield Farm, Burnfort, Mallow was also included on the defaulters list for the period January 1 – March 31, 2017.
The company, whose occupation was listed as electricity providers, made a total settlement of €247,164, which was comprised of €161,055 in tax, €37,792 in interest and a further €48,317 in penalties.
The settlement was made in respect of the under-declaration of corporation tax, VAT and PAYE/PRSI following a revenue audit.
The company is listed on Solocheck. ie as being set up in November 2009, with its current status described as ‘normal’ and its principal activity listed as the ‘production and distribution of electricity’.
The company’s current directors, Trudi Sheehan Shanahan and Edward Sheehan, are listed as being the directors of 17 other Irish companies between them, two of which are now closed.
Meanwhile, Denis Hegarty, a building contractor with an address at Longstone, Whitechurch, was also included on the list after handing over €34,648 to the Revenue service.
The total was comprised of €17,507 in tax, €4,484 in interest and €12,657 in penalties arising out of the under-declaration of VAT, relevant contracts tax and PAYE/PRSI.
The cases were among 86 published, totalling €14,402,604.13, where a penalty was determined by a court during the first three months of the year.
The largest single payment recorded was that of €2,354,733.97 by Dublin-based company director Anthony Dean.
According to Revenue.ie, settlements are published when the extensive voluntary disclosure options are not availed of and the default arises as a result of careless or deliberate behaviour.