Doctors and publicans prominent among €10m tax defaulters

Largest settlement of €888,000 was made by website consultant in Ranelagh

The largest individual settlement on the tax defaulters list for the three months to the end of June was for Michael P Doyle, a website consultant based in Ranelagh in Dublin.

Property developers, medical doctors and publicans were prominent among the 43 names published today on the tax defaulters list, which outlined details of €9.8 million worth of settlements in the three months to the end of June.

The list of names published by Revenue represents just a fraction of the €118 million collected in settlements during the period as a result of interventions, audits and investigations by the tax authorities, it said. Details of cases involving court penalties totalling more than €1.1 million were also published.

The largest individual settlement on the tax defaulters' list for the three months was for Michael P Doyle, a website consultant based in Ranelagh in Dublin. He made a settlement of €888,000 for underdeclaring income tax.

The second-largest settlement, for €858,000, was made by Dublin company Mediserve Homecare, which runs an out-of-hours GP callout service in Dublin. The company's directors include medical doctor, Pearse Phelan, whose past business interests include a share in the Fitzwilliam Private Clinic in Dublin, where he was medical director.

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Settlements

Another healthcare company Guardian Primary Care, which is now in liquidation, was hit with a bill for €415,000 for non-declaration of VAT. The company is controlled by Shankill businessman, Tim Gunning, and was involved in a plan to build a primary care centre in Dublin's south inner city.

Two doctors, both Co Laois-based, also made large settlements for income tax breaches. Thobeka Msani from Portlaoise settled for almost €120,000 while consultant radiologist, Nagabathula Ramesh, settled for €440,000.

A Cork solicitor, Donal Daly, made a settlement of €265,000 for underdeclaring income tax. Mr Daly gave an address that is also the location for Cork firm, Daly Derham Donnelly, where he is a solicitor specialising in criminal cases. The entire amount of Mr Daly’s settlement was still outstanding at the end of June.

Dayhoff Limited, which runs popular Kilkenny bar, Breathnach's, received a bill of €477,000 in a VAT case while Dublin nightclub operator CTP Bars, which operated as Play nightclub, settled for €125,000 in another VAT case, although CTP is now in liquidation. Also among the largest settlements on the list was a €852,000 bill for Killynebber, Cavan-based drink and household goods wholesaler, Colm Rudden.

Among the higher profile names on the list was the Castletownbere Fishermens’ Co-Operative Society Limited, which settled for more than €216,000 after a Revenue audit found it had underdeclared liabilities on corporation tax, income tax, PRSI, universal social charge and VAT.

Discovered

Two other fisheries sector names feature. They are fish exporter Neil O’Donnell from Dungloe, Co Donegal, who was hit with a €155,000 bill over unpaid income tax after an audit and fishing supplier retailer Anthony Herbert, from Dromod, in Co Leitrim, who settled a Revenue audit for €160,000 after shortcomings in income tax and VAT declarations were discovered.

Galway motors dealer, Noel Turley, had paid up about a quarter of his €799,000 bill by end-June for underdeclaring VAT. Mr Turley, who operates Noel Turley Autosales in Loughrea, had €563,000 outstanding at the end of the period. Another motor dealer, John McCaul of Carbury, Kildare, settled a case for €491,000.

Wexford businessman, Sean O’Leary, received a €705,000 bill for underdeclaring income tax and VAT. He operates a lorry road worthiness-testing centre, Wextest Center. One of his companies by that name previously made a €270,000 settlement and was named on the tax defaulters list in 2017.

Mark Paul

Mark Paul

Mark Paul is London Correspondent for The Irish Times