Tax boom as extra €3.7bn gets raked in
Finance Minister Cowan gets a post-election boost in the coffers
Tuesday May 29 2007
Last year’s figure was €6bn more than in 2005, the Revenue’s annual report claimed today.
The report shows that:
Special investigations yielded a total of €119.6m in 2006 of which €88.3m came from from the Single Premium Insurance Policy and Offshore Assets investigations.
The overall total from special investigations currently stands at €2.3bn.
There were seven convictions for serious tax and duty evasion. A further 515 convictions were obtained for summary offences and there were 1,295 convictions for non-filing of tax returns. Revenue continued its audit of different sectors and new projects started included the construction sector, publicans, computer consultants, coffee shops, restaurants and takeaways, hotels and rental income.
The construction sector project alone yielded €125m in tax, interest and penalties. Total audit and assurance check activity yielded €691.8m A range of on-line and telephone self-service options were provided for PAYE taxpayers.
Over 2.2m PAYE customers can now claim a wide range of tax credits, apply for repayments, request a tax review and change personal details — all on-line.
The Revenue On-Line Service (ROS) continued its strong growth in 2006. The number of payment transactions made via ROS increased by 40.48pc to 408,575, while the value of the payments made via ROS increased by 37.19pc.
Arrears as a percentage of total gross receipts now stand at an historic low of 1.8pc.
- Michael Lavery
