Former RTÉ sports commentator on tax defaulters list

Among those included on Revenue’s list is the former RTÉ broadcaster Brian Carthy, with an address in Terenure, Dublin, who is described as a journalist “trading as Sliabh Ban Productions”.

The tax due in his case was €67,259, and with interest of €42,775 and penalties of €19,725, the total settlement came to €129,759.

A native of Ballymore, at the foothills of Sliabh Ban near Strokestown in Co Roscommon, Mr Carthy was a GAA commentator on RTÉ Radio for 35 years. Now a podcaster, he is the author of over 20 books produced under the Sliabh Ban imprint, which also published two books by Fr Brian D’Arcy.

Mr Carthy was the subject of a Revenue audit case for under-declaration of income tax, PAYE/PRSI/USC and Vat. The amount unpaid on December 31 was listed as €109,419, He declined to comment yesterday.

It is understood that Mr Carthy was a sole trader when employed by RTÉ. The station is itself engaging with Revenue and the Department of Social Protection over the issue of workers engaged as sole traders rather than employees.

The former GAA commentator is understood to have invested in property in lieu of a pension, but his investments were almost wiped out in the financial crash.

There are four settlements of over €0.5m on Revenue’s list, including one by Ina’s Kitchen Desserts Ltd, a manufacturer of pastries and cakes based in Tallaght, trading as Broderick’s, which made a settlement of €535,069 including interest and penalties.

Transmedix Ltd, a medical staff provider based in Cork, reached a settlement of €586,000, of which €463,309 is still unpaid. The Big Red Book Company Ltd, a computer software distribution and development firm based in Glenageary, south Dublin, is also on the Revenue’s latest list of tax defaulters, having reached a settlement of €464,568.

There were two individual settlements of over €0.5m, including a farmer from Co Kildare, and a landlord with an address in Cheshire.

Graham de Barra, with an address in Portugal and described as a cryptocurrency trader, is also included on the Revenue tax defaulters’ list having made a settlement of €202,000. This included €89,000 in tax, €45,000 in interest, and €67,000 in penalties. The entire amount is still outstanding.

Canasta Investments Ltd, a provider of management services based in Park West in Dublin, made a settlement totalling €314,037.

Kelly Farm Modernisation Ltd, an agricultural contractor based in Ballydesmond, made a settlement of €238,363 with Revenue.

Francis Murphy, a publican in Templemore, Co Tipperary, made a settlement of €471,346. Michael Mullins Quarries Ltd, based in Ballyragget, Co Kilkenny, faced a bill totalling €173,034.

Revenue publishes its quarterly list in two parts. The first is settlement cases where there has been no agreement on a penalty, which is then set down by the courts. There were three such cases in the three months to December 31, with almost €200,000 in penalties imposed.

Part 2 cases are settlements published when voluntary disclosure options are not availed of and the default arises because of careless or deliberate behaviour. Sixteen such cases were included, all exceeding €100,000, with €5.01m being the total settlement.

Revenue says the published settlements reflect only a portion of its compliance interventions, which totalled 14,039 in that period, resulting in a total yield of almost €255.5m.