Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 1078

Revenue offences

Section 1078 creates criminal offences for serious breaches of tax law and sets out the penalties that apply on conviction.

• A wide range of deliberate acts and failures — including filing false returns, evading tax, facilitating evasion, and obstructing Revenue officers — are criminal offences carrying fines and imprisonment.
• On summary conviction the maximum penalty is a fine of €5,000 and/or 12 months' imprisonment; on conviction on indictment it is a fine of €126,790 and/or five years' imprisonment.
• Directors, managers and other officers of a body corporate can be personally convicted where the company's offence was committed with their consent, connivance or recklessness.
• Proceedings must be brought within 10 years, the Probation of Offenders Act does not apply, and Revenue officers may serve all court documents relating to the proceedings.