It was announced to the House in the Financial Statement for Budget 2017 that action would be taken to restrict, with effect from May 2017, the opportunity for tax defaulters with outstanding tax liabilities in respect of offshore matters to use the voluntary disclosure regime. In line with this undertaking, section 56 of the Finance Act 2016 provided that, as and from the specified deadline date, the making of a voluntary disclosure would no longer be permitted where the tax liabilities in question relate to offshore matters.
The period during which a voluntary disclosure could be made to Revenue in relation to offshore matters ended on 4 May 2017. I am advised by Revenue that some 2,859 disclosures, with a declared value of almost €88 million have been received, and this amount is comprised of €56 million in tax, €26 million in interest and €6 million in penalties.
I am advised also that 69% of the disclosures received by Revenue relate to offshore matters concerning four jurisdictions, namely the United Kingdom, the United States of America, France and Spain. A full breakdown of the disclosures received, by reference to the jurisdiction to which the offshore matter disclosed relates, is given in the following table.
BREAKDOWN BY JURISDICTION TO WHICH OFFSHORE MATTER RELATES
|
Country
|
No. of Disclosures
|
|
Australia
|
53
|
|
Belgium
|
28
|
|
Bulgaria
|
18
|
|
Canada
|
40
|
|
France
|
193
|
|
Germany
|
66
|
|
Hungary
|
43
|
|
Isle of Man
|
40
|
|
Italy
|
10
|
|
Jersey
|
27
|
|
Luxembourg
|
30
|
|
Netherlands
|
21
|
|
New Zealand
|
11
|
|
Poland
|
28
|
|
Portugal
|
52
|
|
South Africa
|
30
|
|
Spain
|
135
|
|
Switzerland
|
47
|
|
Turkey
|
19
|
|
United Arab Emirates
|
18
|
|
United Kingdom
|
1,261
|
|
USA
|
391
|
|
Unspecified
|
188
|
|
Total
|
2,749
|
To protect the confidentiality of taxpayer information, and with regard to the small numbers of cases in some jurisdictions, the above table does not include countries with less than 10 voluntary disclosures. The following is a list of these jurisdictions:
Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, India, Iraq, Jamaica, Kenya, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Monaco, Norway, Oman, Panama, Romania, Saint Lucia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago.
The table gives details, by category, of the types of previously undisclosed income sources and assets that gave rise to the disclosures made to Revenue.
BREAKDOWN BY SOURCE OF INCOME AND ASSETS
|
Source
|
Number
|
Percentage
|
|
Pension
|
471
|
16%
|
|
Bank Account
|
491
|
17%
|
|
Shares
|
569
|
20%
|
|
Property
|
823
|
29%
|
|
Offshore Fund
|
127
|
4%
|
|
Trust
|
29
|
1%
|
|
Earned Income
|
75
|
3%
|
|
Inheritance
|
25
|
1%
|
|
Multiple
|
118
|
4%
|
|
Unspecified
|
131
|
5%
|
Anybody who had tax liabilities relating to offshore matters and who did not act by 4 May 2017 to address them now faces the prospect of substantially higher penalties, publication in Revenue’s quarterly list of tax defaulters and possible prosecution. Revenue will make full and effective use of the large volume of data that it is receiving, under international arrangements for the automatic exchange of information, to identify and pursue anybody who attempts to evade his or her tax obligations by using offshore accounts, assets and structures.
