NEW steps are to be taken to help the Revenue Commissioners to secure convictions in cases of serious tax evasion, the Minister for Finance said yesterday.
Mr Quinn said he had "detailed discussions" with the commissioners on tax evasion and there was agreement that in cases of serious evasion, every effort must be made to secure convictions.
"Those who avoid paying their fair share are increasingly and correctly identified as acting against society," he said, at the official opening of Revenue Commissioners offices at Sarsfield House and River House in Limerick.
Extra staff has been appointed to the Revenue Solicitor's Office, which handles legal cases taken by the Revenue Commissioners. A guidebook for staff on what is required by the DPP's office and the courts to secure convictions has been drafted. Some staff have been sent to England for extra training on prosecution procedures.
The opening of the Limerick offices marks the completion of the Revenue Commissioners element of the Government's decentralisation programme.
More than 1,000 of the Revenue's 6,000 staff have been moved to the mid west as part of the programme. The Office of the Collector General is now based at Sarsfield House and the Limerick Tax District at River House.
Other offices have been based in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, and Ennis, Co Clare.
"The arrival in Limerick of an additional 550 people with a salary bill of some £8 million on an annual basis gives, by any measurement standard, a major boost to economic activity in the city and the mid west regional generally," Mr Quinn said.
The Revenue Commissioner, Mr Dermot Quigley, said careful management planning and staff co operation had ensured the decentralisation project had been completed without any adverse effects on Exchequer receipts.
The Revenue Commissioners intended to continue its policy of reducing red tape for those trying to meet their tax obligations, while pursuing those who do not pay on time or not at all.
