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Woman who has never had job loses appeal over €400,000 CAB tax bill

CAB has assessed the woman for tax over “unexplained” income totalling almost €740,000 she had received in a number of bank accounts between 2006 and 2017

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A woman who has never worked at any job has lost an appeal against a tax bill for almost €400,000 following an investigation by the Criminal Assets Bureau.

The Tax Appeal Commission (TAC) ruled in favour of CAB after it issued the unnamed ­woman with a demand in 2020 for unpaid tax worth €389,632.

CAB has assessed the woman for tax over “unexplained” income totalling almost €740,000 she had received in a number of bank accounts between 2006 and 2017, which was used to buy a property for €346,500 in 2016 and several cars.

It also issued a tax demand in relation to two undeclared properties she had been gifted by her brothers worth a combined €230,000.

The payments sought by CAB related to unpaid income tax and capital acquisitions tax.

The TAC hearing was told the woman was claiming jobseeker’s allowance over the entire period.

The 43-year-old appellant told the TAC she had been in receipt of social welfare payments since she was 18 and had never been employed or operated a trade.

She gave evidence that her only source of income was ­social welfare benefits and that the ­income assessed on her by CAB was ­“erroneous”.

The woman claimed she could not have contributed lodgments to the bank accounts she held jointly with her father and her brother because she did not have the means.

She told the TAC she had ­never acquired the cars bought in her name and that they were put in her name by her brothers, although she was insured to drive them. The woman claimed she was unaware she was registered as their legal owner and understood the insurance was in her name because she would get cheaper premiums than her brothers.

She also said she did not receive any money from the subsequent sale of any of the vehicles.

The woman said the various properties were placed in her name on trust for the rest of the family.

She claimed the property bought in her name for €346,500 was bought by her brother with funds she assumed came from his work as a painter.

The woman’s father gave evidence that he put her name on bank accounts in case he suffered any adverse health issues and that a lodgment of €104,000 related to his own funds and the repayment of loans from several of his children.

The TAC was told the woman’s brother, who had his tax affairs investigated over his failure to submit tax returns, had failed to appear as a witness in her case.

The woman was also named on bank accounts in her own name, as well as some held jointly with her father and her brother.

CAB sought to have her pay tax on the full amount of lodgments in her own account and 50pc of the unexplained amounts paid into the accounts she shared with her relatives.

TAC commissioner Andrew Feighery said the onus was on her to establish that the income received by her was from a verifiable source.

He ruled that the sources of the vast majority of the lodgments paid into the account she held jointly with her brother were unexplained and CAB’s assessment relating to them stood.