Following the 15 January deadline, Revenue have advised that as of 5.00pm on Thursday 15 January, €53.7m in tax, interest and penalties had been received from 932 cases under the disclosure scheme.

The last such special investigation was the Single Premium Insurance Policies investigation in 2005. By the July 2005 deadline for the voluntary phase of that investigation, 4,600 taxpayers had paid €312m. Those figures subsequently increased to some €450m from 5,300 taxpayers over the subsequent phases of that investigation. Average yields per capita from both investigations are quite comparable.

Deposit Investigation and 2002 Audit Code

ICAI has sought clarification on application of the 2002 Revenue Audit Code of Practice in relation to the Deposit Investigation.

ICAIQuestion: Is it Revenue's position that the conduct of this particular investigation, including the agreeing of settlements, is to be conducted under the 2002 Code of Practice without reference to the Finance (No.2) Act legislation?

Revenue's Response: Where the ‘tax default’ occurs before the passing of the Finance Act (No. 2) 2008 (e.g. incorrect return filed or no return filed by filing date) penalties will be applied in accordance with the ‘old’ legislation. The 2002 code of Practice will be used. However, where the taxpayer disagrees with the penalties or does not pay, it will be necessary to avail of the new legislation to seek a court determination that a penalty is due and to get a recovery order.