Latest revenue report shows former fashion boutique owner hit by €3m bill after tax probe
A former fashion boutique owner has been hit with a bill of almost 3.2 million euro after being investigated by tax inspectors.
Nora Filtness, from Millcastle, Castlepollard, Co Westmeath was among scores of names on the Revenue's latest Defaulters' List.
The multi-million settlement with inspectors was for unpaid tax, penalties and interest following an audit which uncovered under-declaration of income tax and VAT.
The Revenue described Ms Filtness as a former boutique proprietor previously trading as Clara Ellen.
A spokeswoman said it was bound by legislation not to release any further detail on the investigation.
The bill was calculated with the level of penalties and interest both matching the amount of unpaid tax, a step taken by inspectors if a business does not make a qualifying disclosure and if they identify deliberate or careless breaches of tax codes.
The €3,186,753 was not paid at the end of June when the list was compiled for publication.
It said the case was among 58 which secured settlements worth more than €11m euro for the state.
But Revenue added that the Defaulters' List was only a fraction of the investigations that had been completed in the three months to the end of June.
It said its inspectors secured settlements on 1,387 audits and investigations resulting in the recovery of 115.13 million euro in tax, interest, and penalties for the Exchequer.
Other major settlements published in Iris Oifigiuil included painter Edward Galvin, from Model Farm Road, Cork who made a settlement worth €633,827.
Builder and developer Martin Downes, of Kiltycreighton, Boyle, Co Roscommon made a €520,917 settlement.
Another large settlement involved the KC Tyre Centre on Quninlan Street, Limerick which has gone into voluntary liquidation and was hit with a bill for €515,089.
Revenue has published a list of 289 tax defaulters for the period between April 1 and June 30.
The list details cases where the court has determined a penalty, fine or imprisonment in terms of the offence, as well as cases where Revenue has accepted a settlement offer which remained unpaid by June 30.
Details of tax default cases for more than €35,000 are published in the event a person is penalised by the court and that penalty exceeds 15% of the total tax and a qualifying disclosure has not been made.
Four such cases were published at a total of €123,944.76 in penalties.
There are also 227 cases involving fine, imprisonment or other penalty for a total of €609,860.
Of these cases, 124 were failure to fix a tax return, failure to remit tax, failure to produce books and records or delivery of an incorrect return which carried a penalty of up to €30,000 and a seven month custodial sentence.
Fifty-eight settlements were published amounting to more than €11m, of which one exceeded €1m and four exceeded €500,000.
Former boutique properietor Nora Filtness of Castlepollard, Westmeath is listed as having €3,186,753 unpaid as of June 30 while builder and property developer Martin Downes of Boyle, Co. Roscommon is listed as having more than €520,000 unpaid.
Nineteen settlement cases had not been fully paid amounting to €5,675,486.43.
"Revenue vigorously pursues collection and enforcement of unpaid settlements. In some cases, collection or recovery of the full unpaid amount will not be possible, for example, company liquidation," Revenue said.
Revenue added that these published settlements reflect only a portion of their 1,387 audits and investigations for the same period.
More than €115.3 million was taken in by Revenue from these audits and investigations and a further 23,877 risk management interventions.
