Finance Act 2021
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Publication of names and details of tax defaulters | ||
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78. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 1086: | ||
“1086A. (1) In this section— | ||
‘the Acts’ means— | ||
(a) the Tax Acts, | ||
(b) Parts 18A, 18B, 18C, 18D and 22A of this Act, | ||
(c) the Capital Gains Tax Acts, | ||
(d) the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010 , and the enactments amending or extending that Act, | ||
(e) the Capital Acquisitions Tax Consolidation Act 2003 , and the enactments amending or extending that Act, | ||
(f) the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 , and the enactments amending or extending that Act, | ||
(g) Part VI of the Finance Act 1983 , | ||
(h) the Customs Acts, | ||
(i) the statutes relating to the duties of excise and to the management of those duties, | ||
(j) the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 , and the enactments amending or extending that Act, | ||
and any instruments made thereunder; | ||
‘publication amount’ has the meaning given to it by subsection (6); | ||
‘qualifying disclosure’ has the meaning given to it by, as the case may be, section 1077E or 1077F, as appropriate, section 116 or 116A, as appropriate, of the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010 , section 99B of the Finance Act 2001 or section 134A of the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 ; | ||
‘relevant period’ means the period beginning on 1 January 2022 and ending on 31 March 2022, and each subsequent period of 3 months beginning with the period ending on 30 June 2022; | ||
‘settlement amount’ has the meaning given to it by subsection (2); | ||
‘tax’ means any tax, duty, levy or charge under the care and management of the Revenue Commissioners. | ||
(2) The Revenue Commissioners shall, as respects each relevant period, compile a list of every person— | ||
(a) on whom a fine or other penalty was imposed or determined by a court under any of the Acts during that relevant period, | ||
(b) on whom a fine or other penalty was otherwise imposed or determined by a court during that relevant period in respect of an act or omission by the person in relation to tax, | ||
(c) in whose case the Revenue Commissioners, pursuant to an agreement made with the person in that relevant period, refrained from initiating proceedings for the recovery of any fine or penalty of the kind mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) and, in place of initiating such proceedings, accepted or undertook to accept an amount (in this section referred to as a ‘settlement amount’) in settlement of any claim by the Revenue Commissioners in respect of any liability of the person under any of the Acts for— | ||
(i) payment of any tax or, in the case of a restriction of a repayment of any tax, so much of the repayment as is disallowed, | ||
(ii) any surcharge in respect of that tax, if applicable, | ||
(iii) interest on that tax and on that surcharge, if applicable, and | ||
(iv) a fine or other monetary penalty in respect of that tax, including penalties in respect of the failure to deliver or produce any return, statement, declaration, list or other document or in respect of the delivery or production of any false or incorrect return, statement, declaration, list or other document in connection with that tax, | ||
or | ||
(d) in whose case the Revenue Commissioners, having initiated proceedings for the recovery of any fine or penalty of the kind mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b), and whether or not a fine or penalty of the kind mentioned in those paragraphs has been imposed or determined by a court, accepted or undertook to accept, in that relevant period, a settlement amount in respect of any liability of the person under any of the Acts for— | ||
(i) payment of any tax or, in the case of a restriction of a repayment of any tax, so much of the repayment as is disallowed, | ||
(ii) any surcharge in respect of that tax, if applicable, | ||
(iii) interest in respect of that tax and on that surcharge, if applicable, and | ||
(iv) a fine or other monetary penalty in respect of that tax including penalties in respect of the failure to deliver or produce any return, statement, declaration, list or other document or in respect of the delivery or production of any false or incorrect return, statement, declaration, list or other document in connection with that tax. | ||
(3) Notwithstanding any obligation imposed on the Revenue Commissioners under section 851A or any other enactment in relation to the confidentiality of taxpayer information (within the meaning of that section)— | ||
(a) the Revenue Commissioners shall, before the expiration of 3 months from the end of each relevant period, cause each such list referred to in subsection (2) in relation to that period to be published in Iris Oifigiúil, and | ||
(b) the Revenue Commissioners may, at any time after each such list referred to in subsection (2) has been published as provided for in paragraph (a), cause any such list to be publicised or reproduced, or both, in whole or in part, in such manner, form or format as they consider appropriate, including on a website maintained by the Revenue Commissioners. | ||
(4) Where the Revenue Commissioners accept or undertake to accept a settlement amount in respect of the liability of a person referred to in paragraph (c) or (d), as the case may be, of subsection (2), then— | ||
(a) they shall be deemed to have done so pursuant to— | ||
(i) an agreement made with the person referred to in paragraph (c), whereby they refrained from initiating proceedings for the recovery of any fine or penalty of the kind mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (2), or | ||
(ii) an agreement made with the person referred to in paragraph (d) of subsection (2) to accept a settlement amount, | ||
and | ||
(b) the agreement shall be deemed to have been made in the relevant period in which the Revenue Commissioners accepted or undertook to accept that full amount. | ||
(5) For the purposes of this section, where the Revenue Commissioners accepted or undertook to accept a settlement amount under paragraph (c) or (d), as the case may be, of subsection (2), including any amount in respect of a liability relating to a matter in respect of which a person had voluntarily furnished a qualifying disclosure before any investigation or inquiry had been started by the Revenue Commissioners or by any of their officers into any matter occasioning a liability referred to in paragraph (c) or (d) of subsection (2), and the person fails to pay the settlement amount within the relevant period, the person shall nevertheless be included on the list referred to in subsection (2). | ||
(6) (a) In this section, ‘publication amount’ means the settlement amount reduced by— | ||
(i) any amount of the claim by the Revenue Commissioners in respect of a liability relating to a matter in respect of which the Revenue Commissioners are satisfied that, before any inquiry or investigation had been started by them or by any of their officers into any matter occasioning a liability referred to in paragraph (c) or (d) of subsection (2), as the case may be, a person had voluntarily furnished a qualifying disclosure, and | ||
(ii) any amount of the claim by the Revenue Commissioners in respect of a liability to tax, including a repayment of tax, and any surcharge or interest in respect of that amount of tax or repayment of tax, where that amount of tax does not attract a fine or other monetary penalty, including a fixed penalty, | ||
with the tax, surcharge, interest and fine or penalty amounts all rounded down to the nearest €1. | ||
(b) Any list referred to in subsection (2) shall specify in respect of each person included in the list: | ||
(i) the name (including, where applicable, any trading name or previous name), address and occupation or description of that person; | ||
(ii) the amount of tax, surcharge, interest in respect of that tax or that surcharge and fine or other monetary penalty included in the publication amount; | ||
(iii) such particulars as the Revenue Commissioners think fit— | ||
(I) of the matter occasioning the fine or penalty of the kind referred to in subsection (2) imposed on or determined in relation to the person or, as the case may be, the liability of that kind to which the person was subject, which may include— | ||
(A) in a case to which paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (2) applies, a description, in such summary form as the Revenue Commissioners may think fit, of the act, omission or offence (which may also include the circumstances in which the act or omission arose or the offence was committed) in respect of which the fine or penalty referred to in those paragraphs was imposed or determined, and | ||
(B) in a case to which paragraph (c) or (d) of subsection (2) applies, a description, in such summary form as the Revenue Commissioners may think fit, of the matter occasioning the liability (which may also include the circumstances in which that liability arose) in respect of which the Revenue Commissioners accepted, or undertook to accept, a settlement in accordance with those paragraphs, | ||
(II) of any interest, fine or other monetary penalty, and of any other penalty or sanction, to which that person was liable, or which was imposed on or determined in relation to that person by a court, and which was occasioned by the matter referred to in clause (I), and | ||
(III) of any amount of tax determined under the Acts, whether paid or not, by reference to which a penalty was determined by a court in accordance with section 1077B. | ||
(7) Any list referred to in subsection (2), in a case to which subsection (5) applies, shall specify in such manner as the Revenue Commissioners think fit, that the person has, failed to pay the settlement amount or the publication amount, as the case may be, within the relevant period. | ||
(8) Paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (2) shall not apply in relation to a person in whose case— | ||
(a) the amount of a penalty determined by a court does not exceed 15 per cent of, as appropriate— | ||
(i) the amount of the difference referred to in subsection (11) or (12), as the case may be, of section 1077E, or subsection (3) or (5), as the case may be, of section 1077F, | ||
(ii) the amount of the difference referred to in subsection (11) or (12), as the case may be, of section 116 or subsection (3) or (5), as the case may be, of section 116A, of the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010 , | ||
(iii) the amount of the difference referred to in subsection (11) or (12), as the case may be, of section 99B of the Finance Act 2001 , or | ||
(iv) the amount of the difference referred to in subsection (7), (8) or (9), as the case may be, or the amount referred to in subsection (9A), of section 134A of the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 , | ||
(b) the tax due in respect of which the penalty is computed does not exceed the relevant amount within the meaning of paragraph (a) of subsection (10) or, where an order has been made under paragraph (b) of that subsection, the amount specified in the last such order made, or | ||
(c) there has been a qualifying disclosure in relation to the matter in respect of which the fine or other penalty was imposed. | ||
(9) Paragraphs (c) and (d) of subsection (2) shall not apply in relation to a person in whose case— | ||
(a) the amount of tax forming part of the publication amount does not exceed the relevant amount within the meaning of paragraph (a) of subsection (10) or, where an order has been made under paragraph (b) of that subsection, the amount specified in the last such order made, or | ||
(b) the amount of fine or other penalty included in the publication amount does not exceed 15 per cent of the amount of tax included in that publication amount. | ||
(10) (a) In this subsection— | ||
‘consumer price index number’ means the All Items Consumer Price Index Number compiled by the Central Statistics Office; | ||
‘consumer price index number relevant to a year’ means the consumer price index number at the mid-December before the commencement of that year expressed on the basis that the consumer price index at mid-December 2016 was 100; | ||
‘Minister’ means the Minister for Finance; | ||
‘relevant amount’ means €50,000. | ||
(b) The Minister may, from time to time, by order provide, in accordance with paragraph (c), an amount in lieu of the relevant amount, or where an order has been made previously under this paragraph, in lieu of the amount specified in the last order so made. | ||
(c) For the purposes of paragraph (b) the relevant amount or the amount referred to in the last previous order made under the said paragraph (b), as the case may be, shall be adjusted by— | ||
(i) multiplying that amount by the consumer price index number relevant to the year in which the adjustment is made and dividing the product by the consumer price index number relevant to the year in which the amount was previously provided for, and | ||
(ii) rounding the resulting amount up to the next €1,000. | ||
(d) An order made under this subsection shall specify that the amount provided for by the order— | ||
(i) takes effect from a specified date, being 1 January in the year in which the order is made, and | ||
(ii) does not apply to any case in which— | ||
(I) the liability referred to in paragraphs (c) and (d) of subsection (2), or | ||
(II) the tax referred to in subsection (7)(b) in respect of paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (2), | ||
includes tax, the liability in respect of which arose before, or which relates to periods which commenced before, that specified date. | ||
(e) An order under this subsection shall be laid before Dáil Éireann as soon as may be after it has been made and, if a resolution annulling the order is passed by Dáil Éireann within the next 21 days on which Dáil Éireann has sat after the order is laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder. | ||
(11) Any list referred to in subsection (2) shall be retained on the website maintained by the Revenue Commissioners for not more than 2 years from the date of its publication as provided for in subsection (3)(a).”. |