February, 09 , 2010

IRISH officials will ask their German counterparts for details of any local tax dodgers listed on a CD containing tax-sensitive data which Germany is buying from an informant for €2.5m.Germany sent shivers through the Swiss private banking industry when it paid for stolen data belonging to potential tax cheats at a Swiss bank, raising the bar in the fight against tax evasion. Now, the Irish Government is joining the Dutch, Belgian and Austrian governments by flagging interest in obtaining a copy of the compact disc.

Germany believes it may recoup €400m."In similar circumstances in the past, we asked the German authorities if they would provide us with any information relating to Irish tax evaders. They agreed to our request," said a Revenue Commissioner spokesman."We will adopt the same approach on this occasion."Like Germany, Ireland is also prepared to pay for information about tax evaders, the spokesman said."However, our experience is that the people who report instances of tax evasion to us do so, almost always, because they find the behaviour offensive.

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