The Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, has issued an update regarding the amount of previously non-disclosed sources of overseas income, revealed by taxpayers as a result of the recent trawl by the Revenue Commissioners.
 
The total amount disclosed in tax owing, and interest and penalties arising from qualifying disclosures by 2,300 taxpayers, currently amounts to €70m. This figure may rise again as the Revenue is still processing the information and won’t reveal final figures until next week.

Its deadline for declaring this income passed last week. Those who disclosed details of their offshore income face 10% discounted penalties and have avoided any risk of prosecution.

It is not clear if Revenue had any expectations as to what this probe would reveal, but anything from €70m to €100m would be welcome in a year when current tax targets in three of the four main categories, are below expectations in the four months to April and when there are so many demands for government spending.

This update was given in response to a Dáil question from Fianna Fáil TD Michael McGrath.