More than 4,600 investors have made payments of some €329 million to the Revenue Commissioners in relation to the use of single-premium insurance policies for tax-evasion purposes, the Comptroller and Auditor General said today.
Revenue began investigating the schemes in 2004 and gave potential defaulters until May 23rd last to make a voluntary disclosures.
According to C&AG John Purcell, who published his annual report for 2004 today, some 10,000 people had made such disclosures before the deadline. They were then given until July 22nd last to pay outstanding liabilities.
The report shows that payments of €329 million were received by Revenue from some 4,600 individuals who made voluntary disclosures.
Those who volunteered information on their past investments in the single-premium schemes will not have their names made public, will avoid prosecution and may have penalties mitigated.
The next stage of the investigation will identify those who have not notified Revenue of their involvement in the schemes. As part of this, investigators can inspect information held by life assurance companies.
Up to €33 billion worth of single premium investment policies were sold over the past 20 years by the major life assurance companies including Irish Life, and the insurance subsidiaries operated by Bank of Ireland and AIB.
During the 1980s the investment policies were particularly attractive for people with large amounts of cash that had not been declared to the Revenue Commissioners. Insurance companies paid the tax on profits from the policy, and when it matured, there were no liabilities associated with the funds the investor received.
Total payments in 2004 arising from special Revenue investigations - including the inquiries into Dirt tax, the National Irish Bank, Ansbacher accounts and other offshore funds - amounted to more than €2 billion.
Revenue wrote of some €173 million in upaid taxes during 2004, an increase of €53 million on 2003, according to the C&AG report. This increase was mainly due to a review and write off of old insolvency debt on record.
In 2004, €3.3 million was written off on an automated basis consisting of cases with small balances (less than €500) which were uneconomic to pursue, the report states.
Some €88 million was written off because of liquidation, receivership or bankruptcy, more than €40 million because firms had ceased trading and no assets, while more than €23 million was written off because it was uneconomic to pursue.
