I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that there are two ways in which a taxpayer may have been in breach of the amnesty — first, in making a false declaration or, second, in not making a declaration. I am informed that the Revenue Commissioners do not have figures for the number of detected breaches of the amnesty. Given the confidentiality conditions built into the 1993 amnesty legislation, such breaches are difficult to identify and prove.
Individuals and companies have been successfully prosecuted in recent years as a result of Revenue investigations, and although these investigations have in some instances involved consideration of possible amnesty breaches, it has not generally been possible to obtain the evidence necessary to meet the required standards of beyond reasonable doubt from an amnesty perspective. However one individual has been successfully prosecuted to date for failure to comply with the obligatory provisions of the Waiver of Certain Tax, Interest and Penalties Act, 1993, following a Revenue investigation and is awaiting sentence. There was also a recent jail sentence imposed in connection with an incorrect amnesty declaration.
Revenue's criminal investigation programmes have been refocused recently with the establishment of an investigations and prosecutions division, one of whose functions is to increase the number of prosecutions for serious tax evasion. Many of the cases currently under investigation relate to tax offences committed in recent years and do not therefore involve consideration of amnesty issues. However, a number of cases have been identified which could involve offences in relation to the amnesty and they will be investigated with a view to taking a criminal prosecution.
I am aware of the comments made by the chairman of the Revenue Commissioners at the Committee of Public Accounts in December 2004, when responding to questions on the 2003 report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the issue of the tax amnesty. The chairman referred to the serious difficulties the Revenue Commissioners had in obtaining admissible evidence, due to the confidentiality safeguards enshrined in the amnesty legislation. He went on to say that there were two cases coming before the courts in the near future and that a great deal would depend on the outcome of these, as to whether the other cases being investigated would go for prosecution. One of these is the successful Revenue conviction mentioned earlier.
In view of this, I am satisfied the Revenue Commissioners are making every effort to ensure the law is applied in the manner intended by the legislation as passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas.
