Landowners targeted for unpaid tax
The Revenue Commissioners have set their sights on landowners who got hefty payments, sometimes running to tens of millions of euro, from the state under compulsory purchase orders (CPO) during the boom years.
Hundreds of millions of euro were paid out to landowners in recent years when their land was bought under CPOs to build motorways and other infrastructure projects. The tax authority has now started auditing people who received CPO payments to see if they have paid capital gains tax, which is charged at 25 per cent.
According to internal Revenue documents, 50 audits have been completed so far. Just seven out of the 50 resulted in a 'nil yield' to the taxman, suggesting that the majority of those audited made some settlement.
Revenue has started its investigations in the east and south-east region, which covers counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Kildare, Laois, Meath, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow. Revenue has written to the roads managers in all counties in the region, seeking details of all CPO payments they have made in recent years.
The majority of the country's main motorways pass through those counties. They included the recently-built M3 between Dublin and Meath, the M7 between Dublin and Limerick, the M8 to Cork, and the M9, which serves Waterford.
It emerged earlier this year that Laois County Council paid €54.9 million to 135 landowners along the final section of the M7. The landowners received 2006 prices for their land because the CPO legislation states that the price to be paid is based on land values when a local authority first moves to take possession of the land
Monday, November 28, 2011
Property & Construction News - Landowners targeted for unpaid tax
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