A woman from Co Kerry, an AIB customer, says: "My husband received the registered letter from the Revenue Commissioners last week. It has created a lot of upset. It's the first time we've ever really had words."
The letter frightened him. His wife had always done all of the banking. "What have you been doing with my money?" was his initial question to her, she says.
When they got married in 1982 she had some money in a deposit account and decided to transfer it into a joint account. When she visited her local branch, the official advised her to lock up some of her money in a deposit account. She said she was interested and had been promised a high rate of return.
"He asked if I had an address that I could use in the UK, a friend or a relative's. I didn't but he said not to worry that the bank could provide one."
There could have been as much as £150,000 (€190,000) in the account at times. He told her not to tell anybody about it, "not even your own". He also mentioned that she should deal only with him or one other official. "I must have brought the form home for my husband to sign," she says.
What has really angered her is that, when the 1993 tax amnesty was introduced, she went to the bank to ask whether she should declare this account. The same official told her not to, she claims.
He explained that DIRT was being applied to the account at that stage. The Revenue was getting its "pound of flesh" from the banks, he said.
"It's very stressful. There are so many people. . . We took the advice of bank officials. I rang the official who opened the account for me. He said he didn't remember. He said he was sorry I was upset."
