Revenue list to reveal the non-paying tax defaulter

THE Revenue’s quarterly list of tax defaulters will soon also reveal whether the debts have been paid.

As it stands, the list names individuals and the amount of the tax judgment against them but does not say if they have paid up.

The change, ordered by Minister for Finance Michael Noonan, is expected to take effect next year.

Questions by Seán Fleming, the Fianna Fáil chairman of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee have revealed that many of those named on the Revenue’s list have yet to settle their tax debts.

Mr Fleming told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘Out of €41.1m in settlements published in 2016, only €20.3m has been paid in full.’

Of the remainder, €6.9m was being recovered under phased payment agreements, a further €7m is still subject to recovery enforcement proceedings, and €6.9m has been deemed uncollectable.

A spokesman for the Revenue Commissioners told the MoS that Minister Noonan believed that nonpayment should be publicised. He added that failing to distinguish between those who had and had not paid ‘would not appear to be equitable and reduces the transparency of the material published as it can appear a case is up to date when that might not be the case’.

Mr Fleming said of the large amount of unpaid debt: ‘I was astonished by the figure; like most people I thought that if a settlement was published the tax had been paid.

‘Clearly what you see on the Revenue list is not what you get. We have been naming and shaming, but the paying wing of things is still lax.’

Mr Fleming said the 2016 figures were part of an ongoing trend, noting that in 2013, out of 435 cases involving debts of €83.1m, there was a full settlement in just 135 cases, securing €33.5m for the taxman.

In 2014 just over a third of €92.8m was recovered immediately, and in 2015 less than a quarter of the €68.2m owed (€16.1m) was immediately collected.

Responding to pressure from Mr Fleming, Mr Noonan has pledged to reform the system and that ‘publication notices in future will indicate the payment status in relation to published tax settlements.’

Mr Fleming said: ‘This is only right and proper. We want real accountability, not the appearance of it.’

Tax default list does not say if they have paid up