The Irish banks will begin to hand over details of bogus non-resident account holders to the Revenue Commissioners from the beginning of March.
The first batch of information will be given on March 30th with other details to be released to the Revenue Commissioners on a phased basis after that.
The banks are complying with a High Court order which was issued in December as part of the Revenue Commission's move against account holders who have failed to make a voluntary disclosure.
AIB, the bank which had the greatest number of these bank accounts in the 1980s and 1990s, had put its senior managers on notice that compliance with the High Court order was imminent and alerted them to possible legal action against bank staff in the future.
The AIB circular to staff said it intended to contest any proceedings which may be taken in regard to a customer's tax liability.
"It will be open to such customers, if they choose, to challenge the order.
"In the past customers have commenced civil proceedings against the bank and sometimes against officials also," according to the circular.
A spokeswoman said yesterday that the bank's position had always been to contest any actions but refused to speculate on whether staff would be indemnified against any actions that may be taken against them personally.
Customers could claim that they opened bogus non-resident accounts to avoid tax on the advice of bank staff.
The DIRT Inquiry heard evidence where some staff members visited customers at home and encouraged them to open these accounts.
The banks indicated that sanctions had been taken against any staff members who were found to have been complicit in the opening of these accounts.
Some bank managers have asked the bank to provide an indemnity against any such prosecutions.
To date the Revenue Commissioners have collected €221.9 million (£176 million) under the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme. The Revenue has played down suggestions that there may be many millions more to be collected from account holders who have refused to settle their tax affairs.
