Dublin landlord at centre of tax dispute named in list of defaulters

Una McClean, the Dublin landlord at the centre of a long-running dispute with the Revenue Commissioners, was hit with a €291,979 penalty in the High Court earlier this year relating to the underpayment of income tax.
Ms McClean, who lives at an address in Larkfield in Dublin 6, was named on Tuesday in Revenue’s latest list of tax defaulters, covering the period between April and June.
The landlord, against whom the tax authority secured judgment in January for some €625,513 tax and interest, owned and rented out apartments in Dublin with her partner Paul Howard over which receivers were appointed in 2018 by a subsidiary of US fund Cerberus.
In 2021, Mr Howard was the subject of a High Court injunction that prevented him from reducing his assets below €2.3 million while Revenue dealt with various legal challenges that had been raised by him and Ms McClean.
Earlier this year, Revenue obtained a High Court judgment for some €2.4 million in tax and interest against Mr Howard.
Separately, Revenue obtained judgment against ornament dealer William Hale, with an address in Ballyporeen, Co Tipperary, for €764,630, pertaining to the under-declaration of income tax in the amount of €763,995, the largest tax penalty secured through the courts in the second quarter of the year.
In total, Revenue said it secured judgment for fines and penalties totalling almost €1.9 million over the period across nine separate cases.
Meanwhile, the tax authority also reached settlement agreements with 11 tax defaulters, totalling almost €2.21 million between April and June.
Carrigaline, Co Cork consultant Brian Murphy agreed to pay €845,343 to Revenue after an investigation found he had under-declared income tax liabilities of €419,724.
Silverstream Service Station Ltd, with an address at Silverstream, Co Monaghan, settled with Revenue for €153,999 in relation to underdeclared VAT.
The Revenue said that all but one of the tax defaulters who had reached settlement over the period was fully paid at the end of June.
It said the published settlements reflect only a portion of all Revenue compliance interventions. In the three-month period to June 30th, 2024, a total of 16,941 Revenue Compliance Interventions were settled resulting in a total yield of €99,821,614, it said.