Thousands of customers who have offshore accounts in a subsidiary of an Irish financial institution will have their names handed over to the Revenue Commissioners following a court order.
The High Court ruling will force the financial institution to give to the Revenue Commissioners the names of Irish people who have evaded tax by holding offshore accounts. The case was held in camera and the name of the financial institution remains confidential.
However, a number of similar High Court cases requiring other banks to hand over information and documents about their offshore activities will be pursued by the Revenue.
The court order last Monday was the start of the second phase of the Revenue's offshore account project. It will involve identifying individuals with undeclared income, who did not come forward in last year's amnesty and taking action against them.
The High Court case last Monday follows on from a case won by the Revenue Commissioners last November, when the High Court ordered an Irish bank to give the office information and documents relating to an account held in Dublin by one of its offshore subsidiaries in the Channel Islands. In that case, the order covered 1991-96.
Shortly afterwards, Revenue chairman Frank Daly told a Dáil committee opublic accounts that the victory was an "important development".
Mr Daly said: "This material will enable the Revenue to advance its investigations into certain Ansbacher cases and to begin the second phase of its offshore account project."
He said his office was preparing further High Court applications for orders requiring banks to hand over documents about their offshore activities.
Last Monday's order was granted on the basis of a "John Doe summons" - as the identity of the person or persons involved is not known. The court only knew the type of account used.
Last year the Revenue offered taxpayers with undeclared income, held in offshore subsidiaries of Irish banks, the opportunity to come forward voluntarily and declare their liabilities.
In return, it promised not to impose penalties, publish details of settlements and to drop criminal prosecutions. More than 15,000 people came forward and the investigation yielded €677 million to the Exchequer by the end of the year.
Anyone who failed to come forward by the June 10th, 2004, deadline will have to pay full interest and penalties and could face prosecution, as well as having their names published on the Revenue's defaulters' list.