Two of largest tax settlements made in Cork
Publican pays €3m in tax, interest, and penalties
Two of the four largest published tax settlements in the last quarter were made by businesses in the Cork region.
Revenue’s latest tax defaulters’ list for the three months to the end of September shows that a total of €13.99m was recouped, after interest and penalties, in undeclared tax in 67 separate cases.
Of these, 24 were for amounts exceeding €100,000.
Seven cases were for amounts in excess of €500,000, and four exceeded €1m.
Three of the 67 cases, yielding €1.88m, related to Revenue’s investigation into offshore assets.
By far the largest settlement related to Mallow-based publican Billy O’Flynn, operator of The Lodge Bar in Ballyellis, who paid almost €3.07m, comprising a tax payment of €1.2m, interest of nearly €723,000, and penalties of more than €1.14m.
Mr O’Flynn’s case related to the underdeclaration of income tax and capital gains tax.
The second largest settlement was for nearly €1.25m, by Arklow-based restaurateur Sau Kuen Hung, relating to the underdeclaration of Vat and income tax.
Dublin generated the most cases on a geographical basis, with 18.
However, while the number of cases in Cork was down from 13 to six, on a rolling quarterly basis, two of those cases were for more than €1m.
As well as Mr O’Flynn, residential property developer the CDRN Partnership, settled for €1.05m for underdeclaration of Vat.
Its original tax bill was €616,625, but that gained €187,371 in interest and €246,650 in penalties.
The fourth case worth over €1m was that of Dublin-based retired company director Terence O’Brien, who settled for over €1.12m after the underdeclaration of income tax.
The latter was one of Revenue’s offshore assets investigation cases.
The other Cork cases on the latest list related to Edmund Heaphy, a property developer in Douglas, with a €69,645 settlement relating to underdeclaration of Vat; Carrigaline-based curtain and blind fitter Michael Downey, who settled for €106,365; Ballyphehane-based medical practitioner Saleem Sharif and specialist roofing contractors, M&S Asphalt, which settled for €266,728.
The third quarter saw a further reduction in settlements both quarterly and annually.
The near €14m recouped by Revenue in overdue tax after interest and penalties was down from the €18.52m collected in the second quarter and from the €19.64m for the third quarter of last year.
The number of cases, 67, also dipped below the 100 mark for the first time this year.
