A retired farmer who was accused by Revenue of trying to conceal the true level of his business activities has been hit with a tax bill for almost €365,000.
He also denied claims by Revenue that he was involved in the sale of plastic silage wrap or fertiliser and claimed most of his income at the time was “Brussels money”, apart from the sale of “the odd bit of fodder”. The unnamed farmer accepted that profit levels he had declared to Revenue over the three-year period were “modest” but he insisted he had nothing to hide.
Lawyers for Revenue claimed he had provided three different explanations for the difference between his declared income and lodgements to his accounts, including that he acted as a bulk-buying agent for other farmers. He originally maintained that his only income was from the sale of cattle with a small amount of fertiliser contract work in 2015, but later claimed he had allowed his bank accounts to be used by two individuals as a “facilitation arrangement”.
Although the farmer was unable to complete his cross-examination at the TAC hearing due to ill health, Mr Noone said he had failed in his own evidence to discharge the burden of proof to show that Revenue was incorrect in the tax assessments it had raised against him.