At least €16.5 million has been recouped this year in tax, penalties and interest from the construction industry which will form a major part of the Revenue Commissioners' compliance and audit work in 2006, Minister for Finance Brian Cowen told the Dáil.
In the wake of the Comptroller & Auditor General's report, which showed that tax evasion in the construction industry was still a major problem, the Minister pointed out that Revenue staff had carried out "substantial investigations of tax evasion in the construction industry".
The east and south region Revenue section had conducted 500 audits, yielding €12 million, and by the end of the year will have conducted more than 1,000 audits while the Dublin region had completed 80 audits, resulting in €4.5 million in tax, penalties and interest. Mr Cowen said "the construction industry will form a major part of Revenue's compliance and audit work in 2005".
Fine Gael's finance spokesman Richard Bruton said, however, that the construction industry would raise €10-€12 billion in tax revenue, "so non-compliance has major consequences for the Exchequer".
He added that it was "not reassuring that the risk evaluation ordered by the Comptroller & Auditor General in 2000 had not yet been examined by the Revenue Commissioners".
Mr Cowen said the Revenue had been very successful in inculcating tax compliance and their investigations had been very successful.
